I've been diving into the C# Player Guide (5th Edition) and I'm really stuck on array numbering. Specifically, I'm trying to make sense of the range notation like string[0..3]—why does that only cover 3 elements instead of 4? Can anyone explain this concept clearly?
3 Answers
In simpler terms, with the notation string[0..3], you're saying you want everything starting from index 0 up to index 3, but you stop right before index 3. That means you end up with 0, 1, and 2. This is just standard behavior in C# for ranges!
Same here! I've always thought of indices as one-off. It’s a small detail that’s super important.
Great question! Just to expand a bit more: this syntax is designed for clarity. They adopted it to be consistent with Python where the slice notation works similarly. It avoids the common pitfalls of needing to subtract 1 or use negative indices.
Totally agree! This helps make code easier to read once you understand it.
For real! The more I learn about indexing, the more I appreciate how these decisions affect my coding experience.
The key thing to remember is that in C#, the start of the range is inclusive, while the end is exclusive. So when you see string[0..3], it includes indices 0, 1, and 2, but not 3. It's a way of defining ranges that’s meant to be intuitive once you get the hang of it! Think of it as saying 'take everything starting from 0 up to, but not including, 3.'
Exactly! This makes it similar to many programming languages like Python, where the same inclusive/exclusive rule applies. It helps avoid confusion about how many elements you're actually selecting.
Right, and it also prevents issues if you're trying to reference the end of the array. If you wanted to include the last element, you just adjust the range like this: string[0..^0] to include all elements.
That makes sense, thanks! I was confused about indexing because it seems different from how I expected it to be. This clears it up.