so you just need to overload the syntax of intervals even more to make it work
> arr[0..m], arr[m..]
now `m` refers to different things depending on which side of the interval it's on. less characters doesn't mean nicer
I get it though, I was skeptical about 1-based indexing when I started Julia. By the nature of indices vs length there will always be an off-by-one problem: either you have elements [n, m - 1] with length (m - n) or [n, m] with length (m - n + 1). Unless you're doing a bunch of pointer arithmetic type stuff, I find the symmetry of a inclusive-inclusive interval to be a better default.
As a final rebuttal I offer: range(n - 1, -1, -1)
Yes, of course distances are measured starting from 0. But we count discrete things starting at 1. You can do mental gymnastics to enumerate from zero and many programmers are (unfortunately IMO) taught to do so. It's a hard thing to learn that way, so for the folks that have done so, it often becomes a point of pride and a shibboleth.
As a classic example, a four story building has four floors. But you only need to go up three flights to get to the top. You can legitimately call the top floor either 3 or 4, and folks are similarly tribal about their own cultural norms around this one, too.
No I disagree entirely. One is simply better.
> It's a hard thing to learn that way, so for the folks that have done so, it often becomes a point of pride and a shibboleth.
It is not hard. It's not better because it's hard-won knowledge. It's better because it leads to simpler, more elegant code. Simple as.