It really isn't. "Scientific code" isn't some separate thing.
The only way it can help is if you're trying to write code that matches equations in a paper that uses 1-based indexing. But that very minor advantage doesn't outweigh the disadvantages by a wide margin. Lean doesn't make this silly mistake.
> If you really need the first or last element
What if you need the Nth block of M elements? The number of times I've written arr[(n-1)m+1:nm] in MATLAB... I do not know how anyone can prefer that nonsense to e.g. nm..<(n+1)m
arr[n..=m]
> arr[1:m] and arr[(m+1):end]
arr[0..m], arr[m..]
Much nicer.
> Arrays are (conceptually) not pointer arithmetic.
Look at a ruler. Does it start at 1?
so you just need to overload the syntax of intervals even more to make it work
> arr[0..m], arr[m..]
now `m` refers to different things depending on which side of the interval it's on. less characters doesn't mean nicer
I get it though, I was skeptical about 1-based indexing when I started Julia. By the nature of indices vs length there will always be an off-by-one problem: either you have elements [n, m - 1] with length (m - n) or [n, m] with length (m - n + 1). Unless you're doing a bunch of pointer arithmetic type stuff, I find the symmetry of a inclusive-inclusive interval to be a better default.
As a final rebuttal I offer: range(n - 1, -1, -1)
Which is more natural? The ruler is exactly the right mental image if an array to you is a partitioned region of memory starting at a specific pointer location. If an array to you is an ordered collection of objects, you would never invent 0-based indexing or inclusive-exclusive slicing.
Either way, it's not a big deal. I have lived in both worlds, I have come to think Julia is a bit more natural and easier to teach. But it ls really the silliest bike shedding complaint, given that the language has considerable real trade offs.
Yes, of course distances are measured starting from 0. But we count discrete things starting at 1. You can do mental gymnastics to enumerate from zero and many programmers are (unfortunately IMO) taught to do so. It's a hard thing to learn that way, so for the folks that have done so, it often becomes a point of pride and a shibboleth.
As a classic example, a four story building has four floors. But you only need to go up three flights to get to the top. You can legitimately call the top floor either 3 or 4, and folks are similarly tribal about their own cultural norms around this one, too.
They way people reveal themselves is a pattern worthy of taking note.
I find it to be substantially worse. It's fine as long as you don't manipulate the indicies. But as soon as you start doing math on them 1 based becomes a headache (at least IME).
Meanwhile all you get in exchange (at least as far as I can tell) is ease of speaking about them in natural language. But I'm not usually conversing about indicies.
Concise range notations are a mixed bag. There's pros and cons to either scheme there as far as the syntax goes.
