The hypothetical student's sarcastic answer isn't technically correct.
> you can just show them a ruler and
> ask them where does the first centimeter start(s)
The question involves a nuance of the english language, the distinction between a measure of wholeness and the contents of that unit.
Length is a count of the completeness of a measure. The length of an interval must inherently include 0 as a unit to describe taking no units.
A 0 starting index is likewise also required to indicate skipping no storage cells.
Therefore an absolute index start must be zero based, and the Addition of duration must also include the option of zero as a means of describing a point at which to begin, but having not yet used any length.
The subtle trick is that is a point, an array of zero size; this is why the length, or alternately absolute stop point, for an array storing anything is one higher. It isn't actually zero indexed, it's a different property of measure (the size or stopping address).
A centimeter is also a wonderful example since it should graphically contain eight additional ticks for millimeter marks, and naught else, among it's inner span. This aligns wonderfully with explaining that there are targets spots for 8 bits of an octet within that single byte of indexed storage.
> you can just show them a ruler and > ask them where does the first centimeter start(s)
The question involves a nuance of the english language, the distinction between a measure of wholeness and the contents of that unit.
Length is a count of the completeness of a measure. The length of an interval must inherently include 0 as a unit to describe taking no units.
A 0 starting index is likewise also required to indicate skipping no storage cells.
Therefore an absolute index start must be zero based, and the Addition of duration must also include the option of zero as a means of describing a point at which to begin, but having not yet used any length.
The subtle trick is that is a point, an array of zero size; this is why the length, or alternately absolute stop point, for an array storing anything is one higher. It isn't actually zero indexed, it's a different property of measure (the size or stopping address).
A centimeter is also a wonderful example since it should graphically contain eight additional ticks for millimeter marks, and naught else, among it's inner span. This aligns wonderfully with explaining that there are targets spots for 8 bits of an octet within that single byte of indexed storage.