this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2024
1482 points (98.5% liked)
Programmer Humor
32464 readers
452 users here now
Post funny things about programming here! (Or just rant about your favourite programming language.)
Rules:
- Posts must be relevant to programming, programmers, or computer science.
- No NSFW content.
- Jokes must be in good taste. No hate speech, bigotry, etc.
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
That's because you use English, a language where ordinals traditionally begin at one.
So, based on
You're saying I can't be a programmer because I speak English?
Calling index zero the first is correct, but risks misunderstandings such as in the op comic
That is why many call index zero the zeroth index
No, what I said is true if you use zero-based numbering. But when communicating with others in English, the label "first" refers to the element with the smallest index. In zero-based numbering, the label "zeroth" refers to the element with the lowest index. It's just not the default in English, but you can definitely use zero-based numbering in English if you're willing to edit the configuration files.