[XSL-LIST Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Re: One-based indexes in XPath
Zero is NOT the norm for modern programming languages. It might well be for ancient ones. It is a very poor choice, justifiable only when trying to squeeze the last ounce of speed in a highly numerically-intensive application. And even there it is not justified - you simply use data structures that have an unused first element, and so avoid the subtract one operation in that way. 2008/5/20 Justin Johansson <procode@xxxxxxxxxxx>: > Trusting this question is relevant to the XSL List. > > Would someone please give me advice as to why "1-based" indexes are used in > XPath, such as para[1] instead of para[0] for the first para item/element? > > Why does the spec for XPath (and its/XQuery operator/function library) go > against the norm for modern programming languages in which zero is the base > for array-like collections? > > The reason for my question is to do with reconciling XPath and XSLT with an > implementation in Javascript in which zero is the base index for arrays. > My users may well be perplexed by having to decide whether an index number > is in XPath/XSLT-world or Javascript-world. > > Thanks for comments, > > Justin Johansson
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