Ada begins iterating wherever you tell it to. You can index your arrays from -100 to 0 if you like. Its a more useful language that way.
Useful until you need to write a method that accepts such an array... then you have to use LBOUND() and UBOUND() (or the Ada equivalents) and write slightly more abstract code. That's a slight reduction in readability for the vast majority of cases.
Thinking [zero-based indexing] is a feature of programming is a sure sign of a inexperienced programmer.
It's the easiest option, given all the tradeoffs (see other responses to this thread).
All it takes is will, and force. China has already demonstrated it is eminently possible to control population toward a goal
Uh... bad precedent, dude. Infanticide, forced abortion, a skewed 5:6 sex ratio. (Though... one could argue that it's better than the pandemic/famine/war/anarchy that a population crash would inevitably bring about... but I still wouldn't hold up China as a model.)
Really, if you want negative population growth (like Japan), you need a large, secular middle-class that's well-versed in family planning and too busy to bonk.
consensus is not the same as reality
And authority is never the source of truth. It's a good reminder, and one that needs to happen frequently.
At the same time, authority is frequently a necessary shortcut. Most casual participants in the Global Warming "debate" don't have the time to deep-dive the dozens of interrelated specialties needed to understand climate science. Instead we choose the narrative we find most convincing, whether it's ((greedy grant-seeking scientist supporting Al Gore's vision for controlling us all)) or ((greedy carbon-heavy corporations fueling disinformation campaigns against truth-seeking academics)). Arguing-to-consensus supports the latter by reminding us that there's strong agreement among people doing real-world investigation, and that's the closest to the truth we can get in time to make a decision.
Truth is not democratic in nature.
Another good reminder, but I'll nitpick a little: the scientific community isn't a democracy but a worldwide collection of highly-specialized researchers. Fallible? Yes. Corruptible? Some of them. But it's not the same thing as inviting all members of the populous to pick their favorite option after 8 months of intense media campaigns.
Very rarely have I agreed with Bill Gates to such an extent.
My 2 cents.
Moving slowly along in trying to read Galen's De temperamentis in English, i came across Distributed Proofreaders which aims to proofread texts for Project Gutenberg. They have groups of people, some willing to type in projects before the proofread, though those projects are slow and not always accepted.
I have a subscription, but i don;t block ads with it. ABP does that.
OK, now i see it. I was looking at my homepage and the "older" button. Sheesh,
I can go back to 99. Wow, here's my pre-karma comment. I wonder if i was onto something.
Here it is! Thanx for the encouragement.
I love Amazon because of the product reviews. Even when Slashdot was promoting the Amazon boycott over the 1-click patent, i mentioned (can't find my comment,
Hey, it could be your workplace next.
Um, I've been through enough M & As to know that businesses blow out all the time. I could care less, because it just means my commute and officemate wage slaves are going to change.
Whenever I get the memo that we're merging with someone else, that's when I start updating the resume and putting out feelers.
If I time it right, I can pick up the earlybird package before I leave for my next job, but if not, that's okay. The important thing is to get out before the water starts lapping at the Mezzanine deck, because that's when the panic sets in and the company starts prematurely pulling the trigger.
It is much harder to find a job than to keep one.
