| slovo | definícia |
zeroth
(encz) | zeroth,nultý adj: Zdeněk Brož |
zeroth
(wn) | zeroth
adj 1: preceding even the first |
zeroth
(foldoc) | zeroth
First.
Since zero is the lowest value of an unsigned integer,
which is one of the most fundamental types in programming and
hardware design, it is often natural to count from zero
rather than one, especially when the integer is actually an
index or offset, as used when addressing hardware and
arrays.
Hackers, computer scientists and pure mathematicians often
like to call the first chapter of a publication "Chapter 0",
especially if it is of an introductory nature (one of the
classic instances was in the First Edition of K&R).
Zero-based numbering tends to reduce fencepost errors,
though it cannot eliminate them entirely.
Logically, the next item after the zeroth should be the
"oneth" but this is never used.
[Dijkstra, "Why Numbering Should Start at Zero"
(http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/transcriptions/EWD08xx/EWD831.html)].
[Jargon File]
(2010-02-28)
|
zeroth
(jargon) | zeroth
/zee'rohth/, adj.
First. Among software designers, comes from C's and LISP's 0-based indexing
of arrays. Hardware people also tend to start counting at 0 instead of 1;
this is natural since, e.g., the 256 states of 8 bits correspond to the
binary numbers 0, 1, ..., 255 and the digital devices known as counters
count in this way.
Hackers and computer scientists often like to call the first chapter of a
publication ‘Chapter 0’, especially if it is of an introductory nature (one
of the classic instances was in the First Edition of K&R). In recent
years this trait has also been observed among many pure mathematicians (who
have an independent tradition of numbering from 0). Zero-based numbering
tends to reduce fencepost errors, though it cannot eliminate them
entirely.
|
| |