From bug-request at octave dot org Tue Feb  1 16:49:42 2005
Subject: Re: strange error message
From: Quentin Spencer <qspencer at ieee dot org>
To: "John W. Eaton" <jwe at bevo dot che dot wisc dot edu>
CC: Octave bugs list <bug-octave at bevo dot che dot wisc dot edu>
Date: Tue, 01 Feb 2005 16:52:27 -0600

John W. Eaton wrote:

>Yes, this is a minor bug in the new N-d array indexing code.
>The "XXX FIXME XXX" is there as a placeholder until someone decides
>what to print there.  I suppose "row" and "column" are still
>acceptable for the first and second indices, but what should we print
>for the others?  Should we say
>
>  error: invalid third index = 0
>
>here?  If so, we will have to convert from a number to "third".
>Things like
>
>  error: invalid index at position 3 (= 0)
>
>would be easier to code, but is it immediately obvious what is meant
>by "position 3"?
>
>Suggestions?
>  
>
What about this:
For dimension 3, print "third". For dimension N>3, print "Nth".
This will produce correct "endings" on N for values up to 20 and have a 
relatively intuitive output. If anybody ever debugs a script that uses 
uses a 21-dimensional array (!), they will probably understand what is 
meant by "21th".

-Quentin




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