On 23/01/07, Bret Pettichord wrote:
This is largely because Watir is stupid in this area. We made a bad design choice with Watir 1.0. We'd now like to make Watir consistent and start with 0 everywhere (like everything else in Ruby) but this would raise compatibility issues. We welcome your thoughts in this area.
I think being consistent everywhere would be a good thing. If that means being consistent with Ruby and starting at 0, then so be it. Personally, I think the person who first coded programming/scripting languages to start counting at 0 should have had his/her head examined and then been committed to an insane asylum. I've learnt many programming languages over the years and even once sat and painfully read through a series of programming language manuals as long as a desk shelf back almost 20 years ago. I still recall how that language was hailed as a Fourth-Generation Language that was supposed to make programming easier because the syntax and vocabulary (commands, methods, etc) were closer to more natural language. It seemed ironic that the "easier" the language was supposed to be, the more manuals were required to teach you how to program in it. The point here is that it is "natural" for human beings to start counting at 1. I have never in my entire life ever heard anyone start counting at 0. *That* is stupid. "So, Paul, how many children do you have?" "Well, my first boy would be 0, and my second son would be 1, so I guess I have 1 child." Even the Cat in the Hat's best friends are "Thing 1" and "Thing 2". I would have like to have heard Dr. Seuss' thoughts on the topic of counting. If machines can't be made to speak *our* language, then they're not very useful. Forcing people to think and code in that way is an impediment to clear, human thought IMHO. In the absence of something good, I'll take something consistent. The "enemy you know" and all that, right? If you want to attract non-programmers to the use of the tool, then you will have to appeal to them in a friendly, non-programming way. (That would include not forcing them to rethink how to count because that's not a friendly thing to do.) I recall Gracie Hopper once saying that if you hear the phrase "that's the way it's always been done" then you know it's time to change it. Well, you asked for my thoughts. ;-) Thanks for asking. Let me just put this soapbox away for now.. ;-) Cheers. Paul C.
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