🧪 Placing below text 🔢 Accessing by index

subscripting

7.4

To get an item from a list or array by its position

noun
/səbˈskrɪptɪŋ/

Specialized

: subindexación

Learning about subscripting is essential for working with data structures in computer science.

Examples

Incorrect subscripting can cause errors if you try to access an index that does not exist.
In many programming languages, subscripting allows you to retrieve specific items from a list or array.
He is subscripting the data in the array.
Are you subscripting the elements correctly?
The programmer demonstrated subscripting by retrieving the third element from the list.
In Python, subscripting allows users to access any item in an array using its index.
Effective subscripting helps to quickly find elements in large datasets based on their positions.

Surface Forms

subscripting singular

subscriptings plural

Morphology

subscripting = subscript (opaque) = sub + script + ing

Although the form is built from 'subscript' plus '-ing', the computing sense of accessing by index is a specialized extension that is not directly predictable from the base meaning.

Etymology

Subscripting comes from sub- 'under' and script 'to write', so it means 'writing under'. In programming, think of a small number or mark that sits 'under' a name to point to one item in a list, so subscripting is using that index to pick a specific element.