String (computer science): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:39, 8 February 2025

Revision as of 16:27, 8 February 2025

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==History==

Use of the word "string" to mean any items arranged in a line, series or succession dates back centuries.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=The Oxford English Dictionary |volume=X |publisher=Oxford at the Clarendon Press |year=1933 |title=string }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=string (n.) |url=https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=string |website=Online Etymology Dictionary }}</ref> In 19th -century typesetting, [[Compositor (typesetting)|compositors]] used the term "string" to denote a length of type printed on paper; the string would be measured to determine the compositor's pay.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=The Century Dictionary |author-link1=William Dwight Whitney |author-link2=Benjamin Eli Smith |first1=William Dwight |last1=Whitney |first2=Benjamin E. |last2=Smith |publisher=The Century Company |___location=New York |page=5994 |title=string }}</ref><ref name=Burchfield1986 /><ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel|Milwaukee Sentinel]] |date=January 11, 1898 |title=Old Union's Demise |page=3 }}</ref>

Use of the word "string" to mean "a sequence of symbols or linguistic elements in a definite order" emerged from mathematics, [[symbolic logic]], and [[linguistic theory]] to speak about the [[formal system|formal]] behavior of symbolic systems, setting aside the symbols' meaning.<ref name=Burchfield1986>{{cite encyclopedia |title=string |encyclopedia=A Supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary |year=1986 |last=Burchfield |first=R.W. |publisher=Oxford at the Clarendon Press |author-link=Robert Burchfield }}</ref>