Etymology of subscript in C ( OT)

M

mdh

Does anyone know the origin of the use of subscript in the language?
The oxford dictionary defines it "Computing a symbol (notionally
written as a subscript but in practice usually not) used in a program,
alone or with others, to specify one of the elements of an array"
Is this indeed how arrays were written?
 
R

Richard Tobin

mdh said:
Does anyone know the origin of the use of subscript in the language?
The oxford dictionary defines it "Computing a symbol (notionally
written as a subscript but in practice usually not) used in a program,
alone or with others, to specify one of the elements of an array"
Is this indeed how arrays were written?

It just corresponds to the usual mathematical notation of using
subscripted variables. They're inconvenient to type on computers (and
were more inconvenient in the past) so bracket notations are used
instead.

-- Richard
 
R

Richard Heathfield

mdh said:
Does anyone know the origin of the use of subscript in the language?
The oxford dictionary defines it "Computing a symbol (notionally
written as a subscript but in practice usually not) used in a program,
alone or with others, to specify one of the elements of an array"
Is this indeed how arrays were written?

Here is an excerpt from what is probably John von Neumann's first
computer program:

http://www.cpax.org.uk/scratch/vnp1.png

I've circled the most obviously relevant bits in red.
 
M

mdh

It just corresponds to the usual mathematical notation of using
subscripted variables. They're inconvenient to type on computers (and
were more inconvenient in the past) so bracket notations are used
instead.


Thanks
 

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