Re: One-based indexes in XPath

On Tue, May 20, 2008 at 11:20 AM, Michael Kay <mike@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> But I think 0 based indexes in low level languages (I
>> consider Java or C to be low level than XPath. Even I am
>> talking about assembly
>> languages.) have relation to hardware addressing.
>
> I don't think hardware addressing is the only benefit of 0-based addressing.
> It also makes computations easier. If you number the rows and columns on a
> chessboard from 0-7, and the squares from 0-63, then the square number is
> row*8+column, whereas with 1-based addressing it is (row-1)*8+column.

Shouldn't that last equation be (row-1)*8+column-1 ?

>
> And we do sometimes use 0-based logic in real life too. In many countries
> the "first floor" is the one above where you enter the building; and in many
> societies a child is "1 year old" between 12 months and 24 months after
> their birth.
>
> But on balance I do think 1-based logic was the right choice for XPath and
> XSLT.
>
> Michael Kay
> http://www.saxonica.com/