[erlang-questions] beginner: why are arrays zero-based?

[Jonathan Amsterdam]

I'm an Erlang newbie, and very excited by the language.

I have a lot of questions, but let me start with this timely one: why
are the new arrays in R12B zero-based?  I see in the source that the
author says it's a conscious design choice, but I don't see the
rationale, since everything else in the language seems to be 1-based.

Keep in mind that Erlang is poised for rapid growth. The number of new
users of Erlang is about to increase exponentially, and
inconsistencies like this will make the language hard to teach and
frustrating to learn.

Jonathan Amsterdam