3 ms·
Right. Zero based indexing makes zero sense, unless you explain the underlying technical reason, that it’s an offset relative to a memory pointer (spend a week
by goerz 5y ago
Right. Zero based indexing makes zero sense, unless you explain the underlying technical reason, that it’s an offset relative to a memory pointer (spend a week teaching pointers first!).
It makes sense in certain context (and in languages like C that have a low-level mental model). For scientific computing at a higher level of abstraction where the mental model of a multidimensional array is a tensor, and not a memory offset location, zero-based indices really get in the way
- ChrisRackauckas 5y ago> Zero based indexing makes zero sense The sensibility of the index choice is equal to the starting value of the index.
- jonniedie 5y agoStarWars indexing makes 4 sense.
- ChrisRackauckas 5y agoyupyupyup, you got it. :)
- hpcjoe 5y agoPrecisely. Indexing makes sense in a context, and it is trivial in general to switch. This said, telling people that the first element they want is the "0th", is completely unnatural.