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Julia also has 1-based indexing .. You get used to it pretty quickly.

by sriku 6y ago

markrages 6y ago
Yes, you just crap up your code by subtracting 1 anywhere you need to calculate an index. I moved from Matlab to Python and the biggest improvement was zero-based indexes.
- pjmlp 6y ago
  Just like you do with the upper index in zero-based languages , as length > max index. Apparently this little detail is never taken into account.
Reelin 6y ago
> You get used to it pretty quickly. You don't if you're writing low level algorithms. It's difficult for me to articulate the exact problem but I liked 1-based indexing until I needed to implement some algorithms that operated on multi-dimensional arrays element wise. Things just don't compose the right way. It's actually the primary reason I don't make more use of Julia. I like the syntax and overall design more than Python but it just isn't worth it to me. (If you're wondering what I'm doing in an Lua comments section, it's because I really like the ideas behind some of the Lua based languages such as Terra.)
henrikeh 6y ago
I primarily work in 1-indexed languages, but I think everyone is missing the forest from the trees in this discussion: indexing should be selectable by the programmer. One or zero indexing is a question about domain and communication. In signal processing, it is quite normal to need a negative index (autocorrelations f.x.). Ada (and I believe Pascal and Julia) has supported for specifying the indexing type, which can then be selected to match the problem domain.
- google234123 6y ago
  Oh god, not more inconsistency! That sounds horrible
  - henrikeh 6y ago
    It really isn’t. It’s just a way of communicating the problem domain in the language. Maybe you should try it before passing judgement.
- ygra 6y ago
  Visual Basic’s Option Base comes to mind. And Pascal had very nice facilities for arbitrary array bases. I think you could define an array with indices from 18 to 22 is you liked, which can definitely simplify code doing the indexing.
- freemint 6y ago
  I don't get that 1 based indexing debate in regard to LUA and Julia. Both came up recently on hackernews. In LUA you can use the metatable functionality to implement 0 based indexes. In Julia you can overload the array access operation too. There a packages which allow zero based indexing. Or even StarWars based indexing including the machete viewing order. https://github.com/giordano/StarWarsArrays.jl https://github.com/giordano/StarWarsArrays.jl Julia's array interface has has functionality what the first/last index is, so you can use it in other peoples code. If they haer coded 1 as first index just make a pull request to fix it.
  - pansa2 6y ago
    > In LUA you can use the metatable functionality to implement 0 based indexes. I tried to do that a while back and kept coming across corner cases that didn’t work. Is there a complete implementation of zero-based arrays for Lua available anywhere?

Julia also has 1-based indexing .. You get used to it pretty quickly.

by sriku 6y ago

Julia also has 1-based indexing .. You get used to it pretty quickly.

Yes, you just crap up your code by subtracting 1 anywhere you need to calculate an index. I moved from Matlab to Python and the biggest improvement was zero-based indexes.

pjmlp 6y ago
Just like you do with the upper index in zero-based languages , as length > max index. Apparently this little detail is never taken into account.

Reelin 6y ago

> You get used to it pretty quickly. You don't if you're writing low level algorithms. It's difficult for me to articulate the exact problem but I liked 1-based indexing until I needed to implement some algorithms that operated on multi-dimensional arrays element wise. Things just don't compose the right way. It's actually the primary reason I don't make more use of Julia. I like the syntax and overall design more than Python but it just isn't worth it to me. (If you're wondering what I'm doing in an Lua comments section, it's because I really like the ideas behind some of the Lua based languages such as Terra.)

henrikeh 6y ago

I primarily work in 1-indexed languages, but I think everyone is missing the forest from the trees in this discussion: indexing should be selectable by the programmer. One or zero indexing is a question about domain and communication. In signal processing, it is quite normal to need a negative index (autocorrelations f.x.). Ada (and I believe Pascal and Julia) has supported for specifying the indexing type, which can then be selected to match the problem domain.

google234123 6y ago
Oh god, not more inconsistency! That sounds horrible
- henrikeh 6y ago
  It really isn’t. It’s just a way of communicating the problem domain in the language. Maybe you should try it before passing judgement.
ygra 6y ago
Visual Basic’s Option Base comes to mind. And Pascal had very nice facilities for arbitrary array bases. I think you could define an array with indices from 18 to 22 is you liked, which can definitely simplify code doing the indexing.
freemint 6y ago
I don't get that 1 based indexing debate in regard to LUA and Julia. Both came up recently on hackernews. In LUA you can use the metatable functionality to implement 0 based indexes. In Julia you can overload the array access operation too. There a packages which allow zero based indexing. Or even StarWars based indexing including the machete viewing order. https://github.com/giordano/StarWarsArrays.jl https://github.com/giordano/StarWarsArrays.jl Julia's array interface has has functionality what the first/last index is, so you can use it in other peoples code. If they haer coded 1 as first index just make a pull request to fix it.
- pansa2 6y ago
  > In LUA you can use the metatable functionality to implement 0 based indexes. I tried to do that a while back and kept coming across corner cases that didn’t work. Is there a complete implementation of zero-based arrays for Lua available anywhere?