for(int i=0; i<size; i++)
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I am sure this was one of the hello-world codes for many of us ... But I wonder why the letter "i" .. I mean why on earth? With "a" the leading character why "i" ... After sometime I found out that Fortran language (which was/is historically used for scientific calculations) use "i" as a starting character for all integer type variables, and the quickest varible to write would be "i" Most authors and coders continued to use "i" even in C and then to C++ and then to C#, Java etc ... Is this an interpretation?
i am using 'i' and 'j' for iterating 2D arrays because 'i' and 'j' mean x and y in Cartesian coordinates. :) http://butterfly.blog.ir[^]
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If it wasn't for our coding standard, I would employ index, jndex... today. I like that idea.
Matt
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i am using 'i' and 'j' for iterating 2D arrays because 'i' and 'j' mean x and y in Cartesian coordinates. :) http://butterfly.blog.ir[^]
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I was using
ifor index before I was introduced to Fortran.If you were using 'i' before being introduced to FORTRAN, you must have been late being introduced. When I started, there was no lowercase! After some assemblers, FORTRAN IV (aka FORTRAN 66) was one of the first high level languages that I learnt and so I (like everybody else) used I, J, and K as loop variable names. I also used FORTRAN II at college. Shouldn't for(int i =0; i
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maybe but I don't think so. horizontal -> h not 'i' & vertical ->v not 'j' the 'i' and 'j' are symbols for horizontal and vertical vectors.
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maybe but I don't think so. horizontal -> h not 'i' & vertical ->v not 'j' the 'i' and 'j' are symbols for horizontal and vertical vectors.
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:omg: Hmmmmm...
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But I shudder to think why someone would venture right across the keyboard for a '1' instead of an 'i'. Yes, dataset.Tables[1] will work, but why, oh the humanity, why, are you not using the table name?
Brady Kelly wrote:
But I shudder to think why someone would venture right across the keyboard for a '1' instead of an 'i'.
Bad habits from the type writer era. http://www.flickr.com/photos/textlad/3564672292/[^]
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt
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I am sure this was one of the hello-world codes for many of us ... But I wonder why the letter "i" .. I mean why on earth? With "a" the leading character why "i" ... After sometime I found out that Fortran language (which was/is historically used for scientific calculations) use "i" as a starting character for all integer type variables, and the quickest varible to write would be "i" Most authors and coders continued to use "i" even in C and then to C++ and then to C#, Java etc ... Is this an interpretation?
I think you are right. If not otherwise defined FORTRAN would default to integer variables whose names started with "I" through "l" (ell) I believe. Not too sure about the ending letter as all *good* programmers defined their variables. After years of programming I still use "t" for temporary variables (like creating a value for the debugger to see) and "t.t" for file names for the same sort of thing - temporary names while developing. This comes from the old TRS80 system. Old habits die hard, eh?
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I am sure this was one of the hello-world codes for many of us ... But I wonder why the letter "i" .. I mean why on earth? With "a" the leading character why "i" ... After sometime I found out that Fortran language (which was/is historically used for scientific calculations) use "i" as a starting character for all integer type variables, and the quickest varible to write would be "i" Most authors and coders continued to use "i" even in C and then to C++ and then to C#, Java etc ... Is this an interpretation?
I always use index and sometimes preppend it with the object or value i am indexing. It leads to a bit more verbose code but it is a hell of a lot easier to understand. Just my opinion.
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I am sure this was one of the hello-world codes for many of us ... But I wonder why the letter "i" .. I mean why on earth? With "a" the leading character why "i" ... After sometime I found out that Fortran language (which was/is historically used for scientific calculations) use "i" as a starting character for all integer type variables, and the quickest varible to write would be "i" Most authors and coders continued to use "i" even in C and then to C++ and then to C#, Java etc ... Is this an interpretation?
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I think you are right. If not otherwise defined FORTRAN would default to integer variables whose names started with "I" through "l" (ell) I believe. Not too sure about the ending letter as all *good* programmers defined their variables. After years of programming I still use "t" for temporary variables (like creating a value for the debugger to see) and "t.t" for file names for the same sort of thing - temporary names while developing. This comes from the old TRS80 system. Old habits die hard, eh?
same thoughts
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If it wasn't for our coding standard, I would employ index, jndex... today. I like that idea.
Matt
Why not just skip to "spa"
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Yes, it started in FORTRAN and leads to the following joke: God is real unless declared integer At least now you have the context so you can see the humor :)
Sorry, I still don't see the humour! (Sound of tumbleweed blowing)
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I am sure this was one of the hello-world codes for many of us ... But I wonder why the letter "i" .. I mean why on earth? With "a" the leading character why "i" ... After sometime I found out that Fortran language (which was/is historically used for scientific calculations) use "i" as a starting character for all integer type variables, and the quickest varible to write would be "i" Most authors and coders continued to use "i" even in C and then to C++ and then to C#, Java etc ... Is this an interpretation?
In my mind, it was because of FORTRAN. Back in the day, we didn't have all that many languages to choose from and most of us wrote in 360 assembler, FORTRAN, or COBOL. As others have said, while FORTRAN did have typing, variables starting with i-n were defaulted to integers so we just used i - followed by j, k, l in nested loops - for simplicity. We also used foo, foobar, and jane for "temp" variables. foo and foobar were common for IBM programmers and jane was common in DEC code.
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Look at any mathematics text that is older than computers. You will find i, j, k, m, n rampant as indexes for just about any formula you can find. Also, x, y, z are common variables and A, B, C are commonly used as constants.
-- Harvey
I second the math heritage. Remember the Capital Sigma sum sign like you see in Excel now? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summation#Capital-sigma_notation[^] PI is used for products. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplication#Capital_Pi_notation[^]
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I am sure this was one of the hello-world codes for many of us ... But I wonder why the letter "i" .. I mean why on earth? With "a" the leading character why "i" ... After sometime I found out that Fortran language (which was/is historically used for scientific calculations) use "i" as a starting character for all integer type variables, and the quickest varible to write would be "i" Most authors and coders continued to use "i" even in C and then to C++ and then to C#, Java etc ... Is this an interpretation?
I've never used fortran, I always thought of 'i' as an unnamed integer. A throw-away variable.
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I am sure this was one of the hello-world codes for many of us ... But I wonder why the letter "i" .. I mean why on earth? With "a" the leading character why "i" ... After sometime I found out that Fortran language (which was/is historically used for scientific calculations) use "i" as a starting character for all integer type variables, and the quickest varible to write would be "i" Most authors and coders continued to use "i" even in C and then to C++ and then to C#, Java etc ... Is this an interpretation?
now that you made me think of it, I realized of my habit of using "t" instead of "i" as my favorite looping variable. It's because I learned of FOR loops back in 1984 when typing BASIC programs on my Commodore VIC20. The user manual had several sound-effects example listings, mostly composed of a FOR T=something statement, where T stayed (I guess) for time. I typed many of them and eventually got the habit of the "t" variable. Effects were something like this:
10 REM LUNAR LANDING EFFECT
15 POKE 36878,15
20 FOR T=200 TO 120 STEP -1
30 POKE 36876,T
40 FOR I=1 TO 100:NEXT I
50 NEXT T(for the curious ones, 368678 was for volume "up" and 36876 for playing tone).
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But "loop" is a verb. :~
No, it's a word (noun and verb) that perfectly describes the intention of the code. I try to use as much 'real' English rather than silly tokens in code: makes the intention clear and the code eminently more readable.
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me
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There were but they were implicit. Any variable name beginning with a letter between (and including) the first two letters of INteger was an integer, any other variable was a real.