CODEWITHSUNDEEP
terminology
njlarsson
njlarsson

Reputation: 2330

Value assigned to variable or variable assigned to name

This always confuses me. I hope for help from native English speakers who mind their language.

Let's say I have:

x := 5

I can say "x is assigned 5". Fine. But then I bring in a preposition. Which of the following expresses what happens: "5 is assigned to x" or "x is assigned to 5"?

I can get one intuition by drawing an analogy to "the name is assigned to the value", so that would indicate "x is assigned to 5". But then, I can also say "the value is assigned the name" without the "to", which would indicate that "5 is assigned x" would be right, and I absolutely think that is backwards.

Upvotes: 3

Views: 1006

Answers (3)

leonbloy
leonbloy

Reputation: 75926

I'm not a native english speaker, but I think It's roughly the same as "John has been assigned the role R" ( = "the role R has been assigned to John"). In your example, I'd say "the value 5 is assigned to X", or (a little more confusing) "X is assigned the value 5".

Upvotes: 3

Matt
Matt

Reputation: 562

The value of X is 5. 5 is assigned to x.

This of it this way. 5 exists. x := 5, and y := 5. x isn't assigned to 5, because then that would imply that y can't be assigned to 5. A variable can at most refer to 1 thing. So, x can only have 1 value, and y can only have 1 value, right? 5, IS a value. Many things can refer to 5.

So, it is correct to say that "5 is assigned to x."

Upvotes: 1

Oded
Oded

Reputation: 499062

I would read this as "the value 5 is assigned to the variable x".

Or, in your terminology - the literal value 5 is assigned to the variable named x.

Upvotes: 1

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