From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!floyd!vax135!ariel!orion!lime!houti!hogpc!houxq!bis Newsgroups: net.flame Title: Re: ENGINEERS! defensive response to mr. grim. Article-I.D.: houxq.341 Posted: Wed Mar 23 19:04:27 1983 Received: Thu Mar 24 21:43:16 1983 References: ihuxt.178 "And variable names, I see things like i, j, and k in "C" language. Just what is k?." Variables `i', `j' and `k' are indexes that are used for iteration and have no real meaning apart from loop controllers (historically all the letters from `i' to `n' (as in INteger) are used for this purpose). A small example from K&R (p. 59) will illustrate: reverse(s) /* reverse string s in place */ char s[]; { int c, i, j; for (i = 0; j = strlen (s) - 1; i < j; i++, j--) { c = s[i]; s[i] = s[j]; s[j] = c; } } I find it hard to believe that anybody would have difficulty understanding the use of the variables in this function, uncommented though they are, or would recommend that `i' be renamed `forward_stepper' and `j' `backward_stepper'. Andrew Shaw BTLHO x4715 houxq!bis (possible) houxm!hocpc!ams (possible)