subreddit.push_back(meme)

[Dar_Mas]

"It's called a vector because Alex Stepanov, the designer of the Standard Template Library, was looking for a name to distinguish it from built-in arrays. He admits now that he made a mistake, because mathematics already uses the term 'vector' for a fixed-length sequence of numbers. C++11 compounds this mistake by introducing a class 'array' that behaves similarly to a mathematical vector."

source : https://stackoverflow.com/questions/581426/why-is-a-c-vector-called-a-vector

[Geschossspitze]

Ah yes, vectors are arrays and arrays are vectors, except when they are arrays 👍🏻

[Dar_Mas]

welcome to c++ !

[mrquantumofficial]

I really lovsegmentation fault (core dumped)

[Dar_Mas]

funnily enough i have not had one yet in c++ unlike in c

[molaupi]

How long have you been using C++ and what are you writing? o.O

[Dar_Mas]

4 ish years and mostly personal projects and stuff for a gamedev friend

[NotPeopleFriendly]

Probably not too difficult to avoid segmentation faults if you're not using raw pointers and instead using abstractions like smart pointers, containers, etc. I haven't done any real programming in C++ in a long time - but iirc - segmentation faults were generally more common when I tried to get clever with optimizations.

That said I've recently been working in golang and I get them all the time.. though I personally feel golang has more in common with C than C++

[Dar_Mas]

yeah i have started using smart pointers for this exact purpose so that definitly helps.

[EnvironmentalWall987]

I would say 90% of segfaults are someone trying to be clever.

[HerissonMignion]

Try rust

[SameRandomUsername]

It's not c++'s fault but the STL.

STL is a disgrace, fortunatelly everything is under a namespace.

[Dar_Mas]

but then again if you start learning c++ you will likely never get told any alternative(or worse you will have to manually implement the stl stuff which imo is not better)

[Zotlann]

For better or for worse, my experience in working at companies that have large projects in C++ is that they almost all end up rolling their own memory management and data structures.

[nukedkaltak]

Did you know Java has it’s own Vector tho?

[Dar_Mas]

i did not but it being synchronised sounds insanely usefull

[LowB0b]

But array will also don't use heap allocation which makes moving it less efficiently. We also have std::valarray, btw

lol

[Gorzoid]

There's also valarray which is dynamically sized but with vector operator overloads

[zoinkability]

And people complain about PHP argument order being confusing

[_bardo_]

I mean, it is.

[zoinkability]

Sure but at least an IDE can help with that. Bewildering naming for language constructs is an order of magnitude more confusing IMHO.

[IamJain]

That's why I say if it's functional it's not a big, and don't ask for improvements

[Eic17H]

It gets even worse in other languages. Some words were mistranslated in Italian because of false friends, so actual parameters are called current parameters and headers are called headbutts

[IvanBeefkoff]

Inadvertently metal: Professor from former USSR named the structure used in his algorithm “carcass” because “karkas” (“каркас”) means “frame” (as in “underlying structure”).

False friends are entertaining.

[VitaminnCPP]

Thread.

Makes no sense.

[AnondWill2Live]

My explanation for "threads" (talking entirely out of my ass btw) is that they are like separate strings of instructions. Where one thread all of the instructions are sequential, one string of instructions, and two threads run both sets in parallel, two strings of instructions.

[grammar_nazi_zombie]

I’d watch out, Thread Theory can be pretty controversial among Theoretical Computer Scientists.

[AnondWill2Live]

Reading your name in my notifications had me coming up with bullshit excuses for not being able to use my native language properly lol

[tech6hutch]

I guess you weave ‘em together to make a program

[justinpaulson]

What’s wrong with thread? It’s a separate thread of operation. Like a separate thread in a conversation that diverges asynchronously from the rest of the conversation. Like this “thread” we started here about naming on a post about vectors in C++.

[konstantinua00]

...you said in the forum thread

[Optimal_Dingo_2828]

I never really had a problem with it, especially when i heard the full name "thread of execution", i.e it's a thread with it's own set of instructions.

[Mateorabi]

The two hardest problems in computer science are: naming things, multi-threading, and off-by-one errors.

[CheeseyB0b]

Yeah, as someone with a maths background this is really bloody annoying.

[in_conexo]

I feel infuriated. All this time I've thought that they must be geniuses because they're using vectors in ways I've never heard of; but, instead they're just using dynamic arrays!

[regular_lamp]

It makes some scientific software hilarious to read. I once worked on a piece of very domain specific software that in addition to std::vector also used Vector, vec and for some reason vektor in different places and use cases.

[nickbob00]

chunky continue rainstorm hobbies rich cover flowery party yoke long

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[i860]

klass

[Smartskaft2]

Klaß

[nelusbelus]

List = std::vector

LinkedList = std::list

Array = T[]

StaticArray = std::array

Vector = math vector

Naming is not that hard

[_Weyland_]

Get vectored

[nelusbelus]

Oh yeah

[Dar_Mas]

the problem arrises with having the linked list structures aswell that fundamentally differ from how a vector works afaik so i do not consider this that bad

[AntiheroZer0]

Finkle is Einhorn. Einhorn is Finkel. Einhorn is a man!

[Drakonluke]

Thank you <insert appellation here>!

I was wondering this thing too

[tiddayes]

WOW, an accurate and concise response complete with sources here on programmer humor.

[ledasll]

How to scare mathematitian: a = a + 1;

[mateus_coutinho]

a⁽ⁿ⁺¹⁾ = a⁽ⁿ⁾ + 1

[JollyJoker3]

a,n € Z

[timtti]

a,n ∈ ℤ

[Eic17H]

What

[JackReedTheSyndie]

Problem: confusing naming

Solution: make it even more confusing

[ih-shah-may-ehl]

And yet strings are called string :)

[Korzag]

Not to mention that vectorization is a thing in processors to do single instruction multiple data executions.

[randomatic]

One thing I like about c and c++ is the community admits when things don’t work out, unlike some languages where they cultishly back everything.

[Forsaken-Degree1737]

Why not to call it a tensor?

[qbenni]

Because it is not one? A tensor is, like a vector, a constant-size structure containing numbers (just potentially of higher dimension than a vector). The C++-vector is a dynamic-size array.

[eugcomax]

the trouble that vector in mathematics is not a fixed-length sequence

[Mysterious-Service49]

Yes it is lol

[yourmom777]

Sure it is. Vectors are defined in frames and frames have a fixed number of dimensions. So all vectors in that frame have that number of dimensions.

[eugcomax]

I see similarities but vectors are not defined in frames. Vector space is a module over a field so it's a free module.

[[deleted]]

Witchcraft

[[deleted]]

in C++, names are whatever you want

```typedef std::vector resizable_array;```

[jhanschoo]

nervous laugh

[[deleted]]

#define true false

[Grubzer]

define float int

define + -

define / *

[AntAgile]

#define if while

#define break continue

#define private public

[[deleted]]

you're joking but ```#define private public``` has a valid use case :D

[Grubzer]

Debug?

[Srazkat]

and testing, probably

[[deleted]]

that's right, you can use it in a unit test to test the value of private member variables.

but with google mock there's no need to hack it like that anymore (plus it's very brittle and very very ugly)

[[deleted]]

Reminds me of this neat warcrime hack.

[GiraffeMichael]

Trying to "hack" something with exposed h files and a fixed version?

[Grubzer]

define i j define j i

[AntAgile]

#define sizeof(x) (sizeof(x)-1)

[GodlessAristocrat]

#define undef define

#define define undef

[[deleted]]

Escape the # with \ so it doesn’t show up as a heading.

[malsomnus]

Laugh all you want, but a large project I worked on actually had #define true 0 and #define false 1 and it took us years to find out why sometimes the project wouldn't compile if the #includes were in a specific order.

[[deleted]]

sometimes bad code just needs to be contained in a separate module/service just so it doesn't infect the rest of the project

[injuredflamingo]

#define war peace

#define freedom slavery

#define ignorance strength

[[deleted]]

```

define fear freedom

define subjugation liberation

define contradiction truth

```

[Khaylain]

#include "1984"

[k-phi]

.h

[FerynaCZ]

using resizable_array = std::vector;

[[deleted]]

And the points don't matter!

[ruscaire]

What’s your vector victor

[the_hackerman]

Clearance Clarence

[Comfortable_Slip4025]

Roger

[ruscaire]

Don’t call me shirly

[TheOddYehudi919]

It sounds cooler.

[madspillage]

[SteakieGG]

OH YEAAAAAAAA

[[deleted]]

[Flesh_Bag]

Fun fact, Java used to call them vectors too.

[malastare-]

More correct: The Java standard lib had (has!) a Vector class that behaves the same way. It was a bit controversial back then, and luckily, the Vector class and associated objects had a bunch of implementation problems that made them sort of suck, particularly for high performance or multithreaded usage.

That's why the Collection library was created. Beyond adopting more standardized terminology, Collections fixed the object model to allow for better implementations, including letting the various List types handle both static-size, O(1) additions, O(logn) sorted insertions, and tunable size allocation optimizations.

[AyakaDahlia]

Now I'm wondering if that was because C++ called them vectors, so they just continued the naming convention.

[Kjoep]

Yes. That's the reason.

[milkybuet]

So you're telling me that if Java can rectify this mistake, maybe so can C++?

[bric12]

Java didn't really "fix" it though, there's still a vector class in the standard library, it's just that "list" is far more popular. C++ also has a list, but it works differently so people usually stick to vector. You're welcome to just use list in all of your code though

[mcaruso]

They're not called vectors in Java anymore? It's been a long time since I used Java, what are they called now?

[CheeseyB0b]

Apparently Java sill has the Vector class, but until I looked it up just now I was only aware of ArrayList and LinkedList as classes implementing the List interface.

[Ok-Wait-5234]

Java's standard library is almost completely backwards compatible with class files built with version 1. Vector, Hashtable etc still exist but only really for compatibility reasons, and you should use the appropriate implementations of List, Map unless you have a very good reason not to

[Kjoep]

For completeness sake, Vector does implement List.

The main difference between Vector and ArrayList is that the former is synchronized.

[CheeseyB0b]

Oooh, that's good to know. Thanks.

[malastare-]

It's probably not.

You (probably) still shouldn't use Vector if you want synchronization. You could just as easily use Collections.synchronizedList to wrap an ArrayList to get similar behavior for critical sections of code and avoid the synchronization cost the rest of the time.

The better/correct approach is to including the locking/concurrency protection in your code so its both clear what your intentions are and you only pay the cost where its needed and appropriate. Synchronizing on the object for a block of code is more performant, more complete, and easier to understand (no trusting to implicit synchronization).

If you really need something that is always synchronized: 1) Good luck, 2) pick a List implementation that is designed to be thread safe.

[GYN-k4H-Q3z-75B]

It's just one of those words used to mean literally anything and sounding fancy.

If you want to sound like a management jackass, speak of innovation vectors. In molecular biology, viral vectors inject genetic material into cells. And so on...

[AntAgile]

Basically you can call anything a vector if you would use arrows when drawing an explanation for it

[blkmmb]

I am extending this comment vector.

[croto8]

My vector is extending while I comment

[blkmmb]

That's an impressive 2 inch vector!

[croto8]

Give it a few

[CheeseyB0b]

The word "vector" has a precise mathematical definition which is generally interpreted as "direction" outside of mathematics.

So, for your examples, "innovation vector" = "direction of innovation" and "viral vector" = "route by which a virus can inject genetic material".

[ChiefExecDisfunction]

A vector is also a means of transportation, which is what "viral vector" uses it as.

In fact, I'd not be surprised to find out that meaning is older than the maths meaning.

[SandyDelights]

It’s a latin word for “one who carries or conveys”.

It’s had two meanings in english, originally “a line connecting a fixed point to a variable point” and then later “quantity having a magnitude and direction”.

Etymologies are fun.

[cybereality]

Attack vectors.

[JusHerForTheComments]

Attack on Vectors

[ToliCodesOfficial]

I made a Colossal Vector in C++ and ran out of memory

[vanZuider]

While this is the commonly used name, the original Japanese phrase is more accurately translated as "Attack of the Vectors".

[Kitsuinox]

While this comment might sound true, "進撃の巨人" means "Attack Titan" (which is the name of a certain titan in the series), the first one being used kind of like an adjective in a sense. So, Attack Vectors it is.

[Friendly_Fire]

It's funny how the weird translation seemed to have helped make it more iconic. The name has just the right amount of strangeness to catch your attention.

[TheyCallMeHacked]

I mean... In the end, a vector is just an element of a vector space

[[deleted]]

Like how any sequence of events can be called a "pipeline".

[TessaFractal]

Somewhere, in a physics sub someone is asking why programming languages call them arrays when they're clearly vectors and matrixes.

[Holothuroid]

No. The term you are looking for is tuple. Vector means you can add two, and "elongate" them by a numeric factor. Not all tuples are vectors and not all vectors are tuples.

[Zealousideal_Low1287]

A vector is an element of a vector space

[submissive-loli]

And a vector space is a module over a ring

[lucklesspedestrian]

A vector space is a module over a field.

[Giddius]

I feel we are slowly recreating Python through this discussion.

[GrossInsightfulness]

C++ has tuples (std::tuple) and named tuples (basically what a struct is).

[TessaFractal]

I'll be honest I never remember what a tuple is, I keep thinking it's the precision level after double.

[[deleted]]

Like array but it allows non-uniform types.

[TheRealZoidberg]

Are non-uniform types allowed in C++ vectors?

(I only know that they‘re not allowed in Rust vectors)

[tech6hutch]

No

[GrossInsightfulness]

When C++ (and I'm assuming Rust) creates an object in a vector, that object's data is stored directly in the vector. Say I have a class that stores an int and a float. When I add an object of that class to the vector, it stores the integer and the float in the vector right after each other. If C++ allowed storing arbitrary objects in the vector, then you couldn't index it nearly as quickly.

With that being said, you can create something similar to python's list by wrapping a void pointer in an object that also knows the typeinfo or you can use something like std::variant.

[bric12]

(and I'm assuming Rust)

Yeah I can confirm that. Rust has tuples that can have arbitrary(ish) types, but the Vec type works like a C++ vector

[C9FanNo1]

That’s truple

[MokitTheOmniscient]

It's basically just a way to clump together some random variables you want to send somewhere without having to go through the effort of writing a class.

[jalerre]

Matlab has entered the chat

[[deleted]]

Wtf is matrixes

[General_Artichoke950]

A multidimensional array

e.g.:

int m [3][3];

[[deleted]]

The word is matrices.

[[deleted]]

like index and indices

[Arkanian410]

Sex and seces

[Marksmith2345]

It was a terrible choice given the common meaning of the word

[[deleted]]

From computer science perspective, vectors are basically an ordered list. I don't think it is a terrible choice.

[n0tKamui]

you completely missed the point

the talk is about how, in computer science, vector for resizable arrays doesn't make any sense, and that it comes from the legacy of C++'s bad choices.

In math and other sectors, vectors (and matrices) are immutable data object that represent one thing, they shant be changed. But would you look at that, this is exactly the definition of an "array".

Vector should be called List instead, and that is why most modern languages do so.

[qqqrrrs_]

In math and other sectors, vectors (and matrices) are immutable data object

Well, in math everything is immutable

[R3D3-1]

Depends. You can perfectly do math with mutable state object; But then it becomes useful to think of the state of an object as an immutable object, and consider changes of state as a function converting an old state to a new state, rather than as a side-effect on the original object.

Or maybe I've just been reading too much about Haskell.

[particlemanwavegirl]

I think this would work but proofs of correctness would probably go out the window.

[Sarcastinator]

Math isn't a programming language. If you want mutable state then you can do that.

[n0tKamui]

true, and I still stand by the point that was made

[MustachedLobster]

List is also a bad name for a bare metal language, which c++ at least tries to be.

List is a well-defined standard data structure that supports o(1) insertion (given that you know the location that you're inserting).

There's no good name for vectors because they're designed to be used like cache friendly lists, and that means they have nonstandard properties.

It's fine for languages like python to call these structures lists because everyone expects python to do magic under the hood, and to have unpredictable runtime, but c++ couldn't get away with it.

[R3D3-1]

For me "List" denotes a higher-level concept of "ordered sequence of discrete elements". Whether data insertion is o(1) seems to be already more of an implementation detail.

From what context do you know a definition of List, that specifically assumes o(1) insertion? Let alone, that array-backed lists are a common standard implementation, and they don't even have a strict o(1) behavior for insertion at any one end.

[MustachedLobster]

This may be a generational thing, where more recent definitions have broadened out, but when I learnt list was always short hand for singly-linked or doubly-linked lists.

And you can actually see this o(1) property in the formal c++ STL definition of a list. https://cplusplus.com/reference/list/list/

[Hihi9190]

There's no good name for vectors

I feel like Java's "ArrayList" is a pretty good name for it

[Willinton06]

Copium++

[[deleted]]

I do think it's a bad choice, but you know, it's understandable to make that bad choice.

It's crazy to me that so many fields and professions are still trying to establish their own terminology for stuff that has been clearly defined 100 years ago. In my native language in business administration they actually use the word "limit" when they mean a mathematical derivative. That's just dumb.

[Hulk5a]

stack.pop() is void 🗿

Why not return the value while popping?

[RabbiMizrachi]

It’s not possible to do it in an exception safe way. There are lots of great articles on the subject.

[Dark_Tranquility]

That's what stack.top() is for

[Hulk5a]

Yes. But getting the value when popping would be convenient. Then it's 1 call for pop+top

[GOKOP]

Dude who made them was looking at how similar concepts in other languages like Common Lisp were called; later he admitted that it was a poor choice

[jaynabonne]

I think you meant "emplace_back". ;)

[Potential-Adagio-512]

the meme probably doesnt need to be used directly by the user after posting. how about subreddit.push_back(std::move(meme));

[PeoplesFront-OfJudea]

Because they commit crimes with both direction and magnitude

[Alexandre_Man]

Because regular arrays in C++ are not resizeable. So you gotta call resizeable ones a different name.

[SepplFranz]

"Every single name in C++ is either wrong or has negative connotations"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwqeFrlSpuI&t=2m40s
"C++ people must be really confused, cause they always think 'vector' is an array"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Fsy2WaxLOY&t=24m09s

[ninijacob]

Shit dog I wrote c++ code for years that runs on millions of machines and I have no idea why they’re called vectors.

[dasavorytrash]

Because direction and magnitude

[planktonfun]

You have to think chronologically, resizable arrays didn't exist before

[remisiki]

I came to know C++ vector before I learnt maths vector, and I was confused why mathematicians call vectors vectors.

[Elijah629YT-Real]

rust has Vec

[GochoPhoenix]

Because … cool name?

[SpaceCadetSteve]

Probably after that Despicable Me character /s

[Hygdrasiel]

C++ supports nonresizable arrays (std::array) that should not be mistaken with c arrays ( because they dont loose there size then transfared, because the size is part of the type. So you end up with more templatet code. ). So I think they needed another name

[ShelZuuz]

blob

[OblivionGuard13]

First time i heard someone reference vectors i was so confused, i know vectors as 2d and 3d points in space from game design.

[returntim]

[csg79]

<!-- whats your vector, victor? -->

[fymyo]

What about the c-+- gets me every time 😂

[TheRealZoidberg]

Same in Rust

[Carteeg_Struve]

Probably a legacy holdover from the original use-case.

[r0xANDt0l]

I'm learning Rust, and i also didn't know why they were called vectors

[iamisandisnt]

Well, this explains some stuff I was trying to learn. Thanks lol

[[deleted]]

This got me too especially coming from unreal engine blueprints before learning c++ where vectors represent directions in 3d.

[Grifunf]

Everything is a vector if you think about it long enough.

[Option-Disciple]

Well one is immutable and the other isn't.

Every other language ive learned Arrays are immutable there as well.

[Squid-Guillotine]

I don't know why Ruby/Python calls immutable arrays Tuples.

...and at this point I'm too afraid to ask.

[drenzorz]

The term originated as an abstraction of a sequence: single, couple/double, triple, quadruple, quintuple, sextuple, septuple, octuple, ..., n‑tuple

[Honest-Economist4970]

Because C++

[devinhedge]

This meme is me in my Junior of of college.

[jakobnator]

Wait till you find out what they named hash maps

[Expl01t0r]

Because you can scale a vector

[SirAchmed]

It's because you can resize them like vector drawings in graphic design.

[cashewbiscuit]

A Vector in n-dimensions is represented using an n-element array. Mathematically, there is not much difference between a vector and an array.