Why String?
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I did not learn programming from BASIC, for one. As it has not been invented when I learned programming. Is that a valid answer? I accept your correction that you are not aware of any BASIC programmer who did not pronounce it "that way". But that is not my lookout. I began with FORTRAN, an a CDC6600. I subsequently learned BASIC from its inception, and made a large portion of my long professional career from programming in it. But, I have NEVER heard of this vocalisation until you raised it. I have been a professional FORTRAN programmer since 1973, and a COBOL programmer since 1975. Yet I do not recognise this so-called 'convention' in one fraction of an iota. Not with me, nor any of my compartriates. Strange, that. I still call "bovine faeces".
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Back in the day, Computers were made of rope and wood , and each character was knotted onto a length of string. Sometimes the string would unravel. Hence the early programmers mantra - did it compile? I'm a frayed knot.
MVVM# - See how I did MVVM my way ___________________________________________ Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011 .\\axxx (That's an 'M')
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'Back in the day, A$ was even pronounced, "A-string."' Absolute intercoursing-bullshit.
Michael K Gray wrote:
Absolute intercoursing-bullsh*t.
I see your bullsh*t and raise you a pile of horsesh*t Whilst possibly not quite as old long term developer as you I learnt basic in around 81 and remember that A$ was always pronounced A String So whilst it may be a slight exaggeration to say that it was always known that way it certainly was a common way to talk about it. Even on this side of the pond
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I was just thinking that it seems a bit odd that "string" is so commonly used by programmers to refer to some text. I would think "text" would be more appropriate. If we are using "string" just because it refers to a string of characters (aka, a sequence of characters), then why not also call numbers "strings" (as they are strings/sequences of digits and some other characters)? Any theories as to why "string" prevailed?
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Everybody every programmer I knew pronounced it that way. Even professional Fortran and Cobol programmers recognised the convention from their early Basic days. (Who didn't learn programming via Basic?)
Then there are people like me who never heard of it pronounced that way until we read it here. In the DEC world it seemed be pronounced A-dollar. A% was pronounced A-percent on those rare times when one couldn't tell from the context whether we meant an integer or floating-point variable. Perhaps it's an architecture difference; those of us who started in the mini world vs. those who started in the micro world.
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I was just thinking that it seems a bit odd that "string" is so commonly used by programmers to refer to some text. I would think "text" would be more appropriate. If we are using "string" just because it refers to a string of characters (aka, a sequence of characters), then why not also call numbers "strings" (as they are strings/sequences of digits and some other characters)? Any theories as to why "string" prevailed?
I guess it is time for this grizzled olde tyme programmer to edjumacate the youngin's. Back when core (ya know, that pre-RAM stuff) was still being strung by hand and was measured in single digit K's (you know what a K is doncha? --a millionth of a gigabyte, or thereabouts...) To teach the programmers who had just emerged from the primordial slime about a sequence of characters instead of the pure numbers that they were used to, they came up with the idea of describing them as akin to beads strung on a "string". "A whale of a tale, and it's all true, I swear by my tattoo."
Psychosis at 10 Film at 11 Those who do not remember the past, are doomed to repeat it. Those who do not remember the past, cannot build upon it.
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I did not learn programming from BASIC, for one. As it has not been invented when I learned programming. Is that a valid answer? I accept your correction that you are not aware of any BASIC programmer who did not pronounce it "that way". But that is not my lookout. I began with FORTRAN, an a CDC6600. I subsequently learned BASIC from its inception, and made a large portion of my long professional career from programming in it. But, I have NEVER heard of this vocalisation until you raised it. I have been a professional FORTRAN programmer since 1973, and a COBOL programmer since 1975. Yet I do not recognise this so-called 'convention' in one fraction of an iota. Not with me, nor any of my compartriates. Strange, that. I still call "bovine faeces".
Funny that, both the VIC-20 and BBC Micro manuals used exactly that convention. I guess that it depends which BASIC you learned and from which course or manual. These varieties of BASIC only read the first two characters of variable names, although you could make your code more readable using more.
Life is like a s**t sandwich; the more bread you have, the less s**t you eat.
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I was just thinking that it seems a bit odd that "string" is so commonly used by programmers to refer to some text. I would think "text" would be more appropriate. If we are using "string" just because it refers to a string of characters (aka, a sequence of characters), then why not also call numbers "strings" (as they are strings/sequences of digits and some other characters)? Any theories as to why "string" prevailed?
Because a string denotes a sequence of arbitrary characters, whereas text connotes readable language of some kind.
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I was just thinking that it seems a bit odd that "string" is so commonly used by programmers to refer to some text. I would think "text" would be more appropriate. If we are using "string" just because it refers to a string of characters (aka, a sequence of characters), then why not also call numbers "strings" (as they are strings/sequences of digits and some other characters)? Any theories as to why "string" prevailed?
Numbers aren't strings of digits but "Strings" are strings of characters. Base numeric data types are all of fixed size, but text data always had the problem of being of indeterminate length and required a terminator (as in C), a size and data (as in Pascal) or padded fixed length (early databases).
Life is like a s**t sandwich; the more bread you have, the less s**t you eat.
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Michael K Gray wrote:
Absolute intercoursing-bullsh*t.
I see your bullsh*t and raise you a pile of horsesh*t Whilst possibly not quite as old long term developer as you I learnt basic in around 81 and remember that A$ was always pronounced A String So whilst it may be a slight exaggeration to say that it was always known that way it certainly was a common way to talk about it. Even on this side of the pond
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I was just thinking that it seems a bit odd that "string" is so commonly used by programmers to refer to some text. I would think "text" would be more appropriate. If we are using "string" just because it refers to a string of characters (aka, a sequence of characters), then why not also call numbers "strings" (as they are strings/sequences of digits and some other characters)? Any theories as to why "string" prevailed?
Has to do with the internal representation. A string is an array of char. A number (int, float etc) is a 4-64 byte binary. A string is typically though of as variable length, whereas a number is a definite size. To look at a number as a sequence of digits, you are actually converting from a binary representation to a string. That sequence of digits is a sequence of char, which is to say its actually a string.
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I was just thinking that it seems a bit odd that "string" is so commonly used by programmers to refer to some text. I would think "text" would be more appropriate. If we are using "string" just because it refers to a string of characters (aka, a sequence of characters), then why not also call numbers "strings" (as they are strings/sequences of digits and some other characters)? Any theories as to why "string" prevailed?
I've been programming since 1979 and that is always how I heard it pronounced "A-Sting" I also to this day call the $ a String and the ! a Bang etc.
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The next project I start or join on the "ground floor" will ban String/Text as a datatype. Everything declared as a String could and should have a more descriptive data type. Which API is more descriptive? assign(String, String) OR assign(EmployeeId, DepartmentId)
Right, because assign(int, int) or creating a wrapper for string named EmployeeId is much better.
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I was just thinking that it seems a bit odd that "string" is so commonly used by programmers to refer to some text. I would think "text" would be more appropriate. If we are using "string" just because it refers to a string of characters (aka, a sequence of characters), then why not also call numbers "strings" (as they are strings/sequences of digits and some other characters)? Any theories as to why "string" prevailed?
Why a duck? brian
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Back in the day, Computers were made of rope and wood , and each character was knotted onto a length of string. Sometimes the string would unravel. Hence the early programmers mantra - did it compile? I'm a frayed knot.
MVVM# - See how I did MVVM my way ___________________________________________ Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011 .\\axxx (That's an 'M')
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I think it's an unconscious desire to return to the good old days of BASIC where a variable was identified as containing text characters by using the suffix $. The art of programming has never recovered from the damage done by constructs like, >10 DATA "MY", "TEXT", "DATA" >20 READ A$, B$, C$ >30 LPRINT A$, B$, C$ >50 GOTO 10 >9999 END >RUN Back in the day, A$ was even pronounced, "A-string." :-D
Will Rogers never met me.
Sounds like string theory. :)
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I was just thinking that it seems a bit odd that "string" is so commonly used by programmers to refer to some text. I would think "text" would be more appropriate. If we are using "string" just because it refers to a string of characters (aka, a sequence of characters), then why not also call numbers "strings" (as they are strings/sequences of digits and some other characters)? Any theories as to why "string" prevailed?
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Perhaps it is a US thing. I cut my programming teeth on a Vic20 and it was always A-dollar. I've never heard the A-string version in my entire 30 year experience in the industry (not that I would have heard either version in the last 25 of them, of course :D )
