Python "why" questions

[Ben Finney]

Steven D'Aprano <steve at REMOVE-THIS-cybersource.com.au> writes:

> It didn't take me long to get used to thinking in zero-based indexes,
> but years later, I still find it hard to *talk* in zero-based indexes.
> It's bad enough saying that the first element in a list in the zeroth
> element, but that the second element is the first makes my head
> explode...

Don't say those things, then. In addition to making your head explode,
they're not true.

There is no “zeroth element” in a sequence.

The first element in a sequence is addressed by index 0.

The second element in a sequence is addressed by index 1.

The last element in a sequence is addressed by index -1.

In other words, it's never true (in Python) that index N addresses the
Nth element of the sequence; so that's not a useful equivalence to
maintain.

Hope that helps.

-- 
 \      “The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days |
  `\                        later you're hungry again.” —George Miller |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney