Better name for "non-negative" value?

Question

I'm validating that the integer is zero or greater. To describe the requirement as "zero or greater" feels too verbose. To say "non-negative" introduces negative language, which I try to avoid when I can.

What concise descriptor do you use when describing a value that must be zero or greater?

Answer 1

positiveValue or unsignedValue

If you're using unsignedValue as a name, you should also make sure you use the matching unsigned data type (if your language supports it). If you use the proper data type, you wouldn't have to validate anything...the type would do it for you.

Answer 2

I would stick with simply Positive. Althought it's not strictly right, most people won't be surprised ou tricked by this naming.

Unsigned is a good choice to, as it is widely associated with positive number in programming languages (Ok, with number only positive or negative. But you get the idea)

Answer 3

Positive

And greater zero for exclusive meaning

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Note that unsigned integers are naturals ;)

Answer 4

natural numbers or simply natural

Answer 5

Unsigned would be incorrect, as that refers to a variable that can only be positive. I believe positive would be the correct name for this.

Answer 6

I'd stick with non-negative. If it's good for maths, it must be good for users ;)

However, if the label is just "Number of X", this additional information isn't really necessary, and a validation result can have negative wording (e.g. "negative values are not allowed").

Answer 7

I would argue that the answer depends on what audience you are writing for. If this is for other developers (i.e. for variable naming or API docs), then I think "non-negative" would most precisely express what you want. If this is for end-user documentation, then "positive" will be fine.

Always consider your audience, even while programming.

Answer 8

I think this link may help you

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2045018/ieee-754-find-signbit-exponent-frac-normalized-etc

or

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Programming/Languages/Assembly/Q_25282255.html

Answer 9

For validation messages, I normally go for something like:

"The number of widgets cannot be negative"

rather than:

"The number of widgets has to be zero or more"

Answer 10

For a requirements document, I would prefer "zero or greater". Requirements document will be (hopefully) widely read by people including those with a non-technical and a non-mathematics background. The phrase "zero or greater" makes it the border case clear (ie, zero is allowed). "Non-negative" may not be as clear to everyone.

Answer 11

Unsigned Integer

Answer 12

Stick with non-negative. The meaning is clear, and more importantly, correct.

By analogy, consider the name given to a list of things sorted in ascending order. Calling the list ascending is only correct if you explicitly exclude the possibility of having repeated values. If the list contains two or more items of the same value it cannot be called ascending because two things that are equal cannot be placed in ascending order with respect to each other. In fact, such a list is properly called non-descending.

The negative/zero/positive problem falls into the same sort of trap. There are 3 categories of number: Negative, zero and positive. Describing a set that includes any two of the categories can be done by naming the two or by negating the possibility of the third. Any other type of description would be ambiguous.