[ModernMech]

I know what natural numbers are. But "unnatural" numbers is not a term people use.

"It is more convenient to stay in the naturals."

Right here, you do the same thing Dijkstra does. You declare that one way is more "convenient" than the other (he calls it ugly), without defining what "convenient" means. This makes the argument subjective. What you think is convenient, others may not think so. Or, one may agree with you on a matter of convenience, but would prefer a different choice due to some other priority e.g. learnability.

So I just don't agree this is an airtight argument. It's a subjective argument for a preference at best.

[alentist]

> You declare that one way is more "convenient" than the other (he calls it ugly), without defining what "convenient" means. This makes the argument subjective.

Nope.

1. Some things are objectively more convenient than others.

2. I've explained exactly what I mean. And so did Dijkstra.

Since you apparently don't want to use natural numbers for indices, what do you want to use?