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From: dgary@ecsvax.UUCP (D Gary Grady)
Newsgroups: net.lang.c
Subject: Re: The legacy of FORTRAN
Message-ID: <1723@ecsvax.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 22-Jul-85 11:18:07 EDT
Article-I.D.: ecsvax.1723
Posted: Mon Jul 22 11:18:07 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 25-Jul-85 02:19:48 EDT
References: <11457@brl-tgr.ARPA> <68@ucbcad.UUCP> <505@scc.UUCP>, <1021@ucbtopaz.CC.Berkeley.ARPA>
Organization: Duke U Comp Ctr
Lines: 19

> >... and found out that 90% of C programmers
> >use i and j as index variables.
> 
> Which just goes to show that the FORTRAN integer type names will always be
> with us.
> 	<mike

Actually, the tradition is much older than Fortran.  Indices are
traditionally i, j, k, and n in mathematics.  And a, b, c, etc. are used
for parameters and x, y, z, etc. for variables.  Fortran just attempted
to follow an older tradition.

Remeber that prior to the mid-50s sometime, the word "computer" was a
job title for someone hired to perform calculations!
-- 
D Gary Grady
Duke U Comp Center, Durham, NC  27706
(919) 684-3695
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