[pavlov]

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 :)

[thwarted]

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.