From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Thread: 103376,703c4f68db81387d X-Google-Thread: 109fba,703c4f68db81387d X-Google-Thread: 115aec,703c4f68db81387d X-Google-Thread: f43e6,703c4f68db81387d X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,gid109fba,gid115aec,gidf43e6,public X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit Path: g2news1.google.com!news3.google.com!news.glorb.com!newscon02.news.prodigy.com!prodigy.net!newsmst01a.news.prodigy.com!prodigy.com!postmaster.news.prodigy.com!newssvr21.news.prodigy.com.POSTED!4988f22a!not-for-mail From: Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.c++,comp.realtime,comp.software-eng References: <4229bad9$0$1019$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au> <1110032222.447846.167060@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com> <871xau9nlh.fsf@insalien.org> <3SjWd.103128$Vf.3969241@news000.worldonline.dk> <87r7iu85lf.fsf@insalien.org> <1110052142.832650@athnrd02> <1110284070.410136.205090@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com> <395uqaF5rhu2mU1@individual.net> <1110329098.642196@athnrd02> <1110361741.551255@athnrd02> <422edaec$0$26554$9b4e6d93@newsread4.arcor-online.net> <1111464133.508323@athnrd02> <423fe9df$0$11476$9b4e6d93@newsread2.arcor-online.net> <1111521825.653841@athnrd02> <424094b0$0$11481$9b4e6d93@newsread2.arcor-online.net> <1111568404.687226@athnrd02> <1111572591.296439@athnrd02> Subject: Re: Teaching new tricks to an old dog (C++ -->Ada) X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1437 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1441 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 69.109.140.20 X-Complaints-To: abuse@prodigy.net X-Trace: newssvr21.news.prodigy.com 1111602285 ST000 69.109.140.20 (Wed, 23 Mar 2005 13:24:45 EST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 13:24:45 EST Organization: SBC http://yahoo.sbc.com X-UserInfo1: TSU[@SBEQJV]SQ@[EZOD]_\@VR]^@B@MCPWZKB]MPXHZUSAANVUEAE[YETZPIWWI[FCIZA^NBFXZ_D[BFNTCNVPDTNTKHWXKB@X^B_OCJLPZ@ET_O[G\XSG@E\G[ZKVLBL^CJINM@I_KVIOR\T_M_AW_M[_BWU_HFA_]@A_A^SGFAUDE_DFTMQPFWVW[QPJN Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 18:24:45 GMT Xref: g2news1.google.com comp.lang.ada:9812 comp.lang.c++:46871 comp.realtime:1621 comp.software-eng:5223 Date: 2005-03-23T18:24:45+00:00 List-Id: "Ioannis Vranos" wrote in message news:1111572591.296439@athnrd02... > > C++ maps on both. However I guess Ada maps on both too since it is a > systems programming language. :-) > Rene Descartes originally developed his coordinate geometry in quadrant One. That worked fine for a long time. When negative quadrants were proposed, by later mathematicians, many wondered what they were good for. The early Greek mathematicians found no use for a number representing zero. The reason: their number system was based on geometry and there was no need to represent a non-existent geometrical object. Some ancient cultures started their own number systems from two because they saw no point in counting until there was more than one of something. There are many cases, in programming, where one wants to map the solution space to the problem space. In the real world, not every problem space originates at zero. Quite often, it is useful to define the solution space beginning with 1 instead of zero. This makes algorithms for such problems more straightforward. Other times, one might want to begin the indexing at a number greater than 1. type Channel is range 2..136; type Active_Channels is array(Channel) of Boolean; In practice, particularly in real-time systems, the ability to set the array index to a range that closely reflects the realities of the problem space can be quite helpful. It also acts as part of the self-documenting aspect of the solution space. Richard Riehle