It feels right. The first line is line 1, line 0 is (between) nothing and line 1. When you edit a file, you are writing on line 1, the first line in the file. That's because "line" is actually already a (human) abstraction. There is no need to start counting from zero, it's counter-intuitive; the first line you write on, is line 1. Nothing to do with maths.

This is different from an array; you need to fill zero, to come at offset 1. Arrays are historically connected to memory-offsets, which is a mathematical and exact reference rather than a human abstraction.

Your confusion lies understandably where the 'mathematical' fact seperates from common language and conceptions. Actually, we have been thought wrongly to count starting from one, and we should in real life start counting from zero, instead of one. That would be more mathematical correct. And then, the first line would be 'line 0', because you don't have 1 complete line yet before that first line has been finished. Pffft. :)

Apparently the concept of 'zero' being the 'first' element is not so easy for our human minds to understand.

In reply to Re: Why is $. not zero-based? by december
in thread Why is $. not zero-based? by Cody Pendant

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