TheWoozy comments on why not a,b or x,y?

why not a,b or x,y? (lemm.ee)

submitted 3 years ago by mastermind@lemm.ee to c/programmerhumor@lemmy.ml

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[–] TheWoozy@lemmy.world 15 points 3 years ago (3 children)

In old FORTAN variable starting with I...N are integers. This is how the practice began.

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[–] emptyother@lemmy.world 2 points 3 years ago

Learned that VERY recently from here, at NDC Oslo 2023, he mentioned it around 42:54. The whole talk is worth watching, its about the history of javascript all the way back to FORTRAN (the talk itself starts at 25:03).

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[–] pazukaza@lemmy.ml 1 point 3 years ago (1 child)

Oh wow, I thought it was because "i" was a short way of writing "index". Then "j" was just logical after that.

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[–] TheWoozy@lemmy.world 1 point 3 years ago

You are still correct! The letters I & n are the first letters on Index.

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