i and j
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There is no chicken/egg debate. I'm saying FORTRAN followed the linear algebra usage.
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
I concur. Tensor algebra is much older than FORTRAN, and they always used i, j, k, l for indices, continuing with m, n, and (rarely) more when needed. Mathematicians are notoriously lazy, so they never waste more than one letter for an index variable. ;)
GOTOs are a bit like wire coat hangers: they tend to breed in the darkness, such that where there once were few, eventually there are many, and the program's architecture collapses beneath them. (Fran Poretto)