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by pavlov 3958 days ago
I remember something about the ground floor in the UK buildings not being "Floor 1" like it is in the United States.

Actually, that's perfectly explained with your offset vs. index terminology. In some countries, the floor number is an index within the array of floors. In others, it's an offset from the ground.
2 comments
fhars 3958 days ago
Except in the UK, where there often is a Mezzanine floor somewhere above the ground floor (usually, but not always, between the ground floor and the first floor).

Is there an Esolang that numbers its arrays with 0,M,1,2,3...?

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derefr 3958 days ago
A mezzanine is, by definition, a floor offset a non-integral number of storeys from the floors around it; a floor existing at a fractional floor number, in other words. A mezzanine "between the first and second floor" (in american parlance) would have a floor offset of 0.5 (or possibly ranging from 0.3 to 0.7, since mezzanines usually involve complex arrangements of stairs and landings.)
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thwarted 3958 days ago
Oh, I know it's perfectly explained by that, but using an example of building floors has cultural idioms. Ruler measurements and birthdays seem to be more universal.
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pavlov 3958 days ago
Ah, ok.

In that case, wouldn't the floors actually be a good real-world example to students? It's a case where the index vs. offset convention seems to be split roughly 50%/50% around the world.

If people can't agree about which way is better for numbering floors, it's no surprise that number-crazy programmers can't agree about numbering a whole lot of other things :)

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thwarted 3958 days ago
In that case, wouldn't the floors actually be a good real-world example to students? It's a case where the index vs. offset convention seems to be split roughly 50%/50% around the world.

I suppose it would be a good real world example of the contrast, but I was saying I don't think it's a good, universal example to explain indexing or offsetting specifically. "You start your fourth year alive on your third birthday" has nearly universal understanding, "You exit the building on the floor numbered 1" is highly idiomatic.

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