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zerothmore about zeroth

zeroth

 

  2  definitions  found 
 
  From  Jargon  File  (4.2.3,  23  NOV  2000)  [jargon]: 
 
  zeroth  /zee'rohth/  adj  First  Among  software  designers, 
  comes  from  C's  and  LISP's  0-based  indexing  of  arrays.  Hardware  people 
  also  tend  to  start  counting  at  0  instead  of  1;  this  is  natural  since, 
  e.g.,  the  256  states  of  8  bits  correspond  to  the  binary  numbers  0,  1, 
  ..,  255  and  the  digital  devices  known  as  `counters'  count  in  this  way 
 
  Hackers  and  computer  scientists  often  like  to  call  the  first 
  chapter  of  a  publication  `Chapter  0',  especially  if  it  is  of  an 
  introductory  nature  (one  of  the  classic  instances  was  in  the  First 
  Edition  of  {K&R}).  In  recent  years  this  trait  has  also  been  observed 
  among  many  pure  mathematicians  (who  have  an  independent  tradition  of 
  numbering  from  0).  Zero-based  numbering  tends  to  reduce  {fencepost 
  error}s,  though  it  cannot  eliminate  them  entirely. 
 
 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  zeroth 
 
    First 
 
  Since  zero  is  the  lowest  value  of  an  {unsigned}  {binary} 
  {integer},  which  is  one  of  the  most  fundamental  types  in 
  programming  and  {hardware}  design,  it  is  often  natural  to 
  count  from  zero  rather  than  one  especially  when  the  integer 
  is  actually  an  {index},  as  in  hardware  addressing  or  {C}  and 
  {Lisp}'s  0-based  indexing  of  {arrays}. 
 
  Hackers  and  computer  scientists  often  like  to  call  the  first 
  chapter  of  a  publication  "Chapter  0",  especially  if  it  is  of 
  an  introductory  nature  (one  of  the  classic  instances  was  in 
  the  First  Edition  of  {K&R}).  In  recent  years  this  trait  has 
  also  been  observed  among  many  pure  mathematicians  (who  have  an 
  independent  tradition  of  numbering  from  0). 
 
  Zero-based  numbering  tends  to  reduce  {fencepost  errors}, 
  though  it  cannot  eliminate  them  entirely. 
 
  Logically,  the  next  item  after  the  zeroth  should  be  the 
  oneth"  but  this  is  never  used 
 
  [{Jargon  File}] 
 
  (1997-12-07)




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