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0 pointsstabbles6y ago0 comments

In C++ you typically access arrays with unsigned integers (size_t), and a common pitfall is:

    for (size_t i = v.size() - 1; i >= 0; --i) {
      std::cout << i << ": " << v[i] << std::endl;

To fix the infinite loop you could write:

    for (size_t i = v.size(); i > 0; --i) {
      std::cout << i - 1 << ": " << v[i - 1] << std::endl;

Neither is great. Switching to signed integers might make your compiler throw warnings at you.

However, 1-based indexing does not work out well with modular arithmetic:

    # 1 based
    v[1 + (i - 1) % v.size()]

    # 0 based
    v[i % v.size()]

There's pros and cons with both schemes.

0 comments

ddragon6y ago

Yes, and in both cases the language should provide tools so you don't have to deal directly with those edge cases. For example in Julia, for modular arithmetic with 1-based indexing there is mod1 [1], and for iterating in Julia you should use eachindex which will always work for both 0 or 1 indexed arrays.

[1] https://docs.julialang.org/en/v1/base/math/#Base.mod1

[2] https://docs.julialang.org/en/v1/base/arrays/index.html#Base...

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