Why String?

[User 8102478]

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.

[User 8230845]

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.

[aojepojefpoejafpeoj]

Right, because assign(int, int) or creating a wrapper for string named EmployeeId is much better.

[Member 8348554]

Why a duck? brian

[Kythen]

You know what makes that even more amusing? You're actually correct! The ancient Inca used knotted strings called quipu[^] as a sort of calculator. :cool:

[MSBassSinger]

Sounds like string theory. :)

[jeramyRR]

I thought it was called String because we are "stringing" along characters. Since it's really an array of single characters, that makes sense to me.

[fred_]

NOT WORK SAFE

[Ralph Little]

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 )

[Ralph Little]

I would have thought they you people would have COTTONED on to how tiresome this THREAD is becoming. :D

[Indrora]

AspDotNetDev wrote:

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.

you have to take into consideration the fact that string refers to a very specific thing, depending on the language:

• A sequence of chars, terminated in a NULL(0x00)
• A sequence of chars, pre-pended with their length as a uint8(This is how Pascal and .NET BinaryReaders do it)
• A fixed-width space that is assumed to have character data in it (MySQL VARCHAR)
• an N-Length columnar space containing character data (SQLite's TEXT field)
• a String literal, in C* defined as a sequence of characters wrapped in '"'.
• a Verbatim String in C#, allowing for '\n' and other punctuation to be preserved.
• A descriptive element attached to an object (Z-Code/Inform)

String, I feel, is used to encompass more of an idea, since "text" is ambiguous (is it a certain length? A certain kind? UTF?

AspDotNetDev wrote:

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)?

Because ints aren't strings of numbers. Sure, in TCL and a few other languages, things are natively strings, but that counts only for convencience (and in the case of TCL, efficiency). In C* languages (this includes Java, Python, etc), int and float are stashed as their binary values -- the value 128 isn't stored as "128" -- its as 0x80. If we did store them as chars, think of how much memory it would take to store the Uint64 maximum value: 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 (thanks, MSDN!). That's 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF in hex, a much, much smaller value in-memory.

---- "Pinky, are you thinking what im thinking?" "I Dunno brain, how many licks DOES it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop?" "You want me to calculate that? or should we take over the world?" "ooh! OooooOOOooH! lets find out!"

[Harley L Pebley]

A couple theories on StackOverflow[^] The two prevailing ones indicate it's either from typography or mathematics.

[George Grimes]

To add to the old-timers theory, I started programming in 1976 on my job. The first language was an assembler for a minicomputer and then Fortran. After that, I started to college working on my E.E. degree and they forced me to take one semester each of Basic and Fortran (again). By that time I was learning both Pascal and C at work so my exposure to Basic didn't do me too much harm. You can count me as another programmer (still programming for a living) who did not start with the Basic language. I also never heard A$ pronounced A-string until I read this thread. I also never considered Basic to have given birth to the concept of the terminology. I'll see if I can did out some of my old books and find any references to strings that predate Basic.

[Roger Wright]

It is, and yet, it isn't. There's a bit of uncertainty. ;)

Will Rogers never met me.

[Lost User]

hence the ancient Inca saying, "Get Knotted"

MVVM# - See how I did MVVM my way ___________________________________________ Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011 .\\axxx (That's an 'M')

[Lost User]

Get knotted

MVVM# - See how I did MVVM my way ___________________________________________ Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011 .\\axxx (That's an 'M')

[Cj Welborn]

No one has anwered the original question

[Milton N]

To me A$ was always spoken as "A dollar" but it was always understood it as, this is a string variable. Maybe an AU thing :)

[Milton N]

Seems we have been Strung along for too long...... :zzz:

[Milton N]

A string of pearls A string of beads A string of characters ... why not!