"fencepost problem" meaning in English

See fencepost problem in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: en-au-fencepost problem.ogg Forms: fencepost problems [plural]
Etymology: By analogy with fence-building. If one wants to say "lay a fencepost, then a length of fence, then repeat", then a special case must be made for the final fencepost. If one wants to say "lay a length of fence, then a fencepost, then repeat", then a special case must be made for the initial fencepost. Head templates: {{en-noun}} fencepost problem (plural fencepost problems)
  1. (programming) A problem dealing with how to treat the initial or boundary values of a discrete problem. Wikipedia link: Off-by-one error Categories (topical): Programming Related terms: off-by-one error Translations (Translations): aidanpylväsvirhe (Finnish), Zaunpfahlproblem [neuter] (German), problem z ustaleniem granic problemu [masculine] (Polish)

Inflected forms

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  "etymology_text": "By analogy with fence-building. If one wants to say \"lay a fencepost, then a length of fence, then repeat\", then a special case must be made for the final fencepost. If one wants to say \"lay a length of fence, then a fencepost, then repeat\", then a special case must be made for the initial fencepost.",
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        "A problem dealing with how to treat the initial or boundary values of a discrete problem."
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      "id": "en-fencepost_problem-en-noun-Y2Knj417",
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(programming) A problem dealing with how to treat the initial or boundary values of a discrete problem."
      ],
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        {
          "word": "off-by-one error"
        }
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          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "aidanpylväsvirhe"
        },
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          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
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          "tags": [
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          "word": "Zaunpfahlproblem"
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          "code": "pl",
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          "sense": "Translations",
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            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "problem z ustaleniem granic problemu"
        }
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        "Off-by-one error"
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  ],
  "word": "fencepost problem"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "By analogy with fence-building. If one wants to say \"lay a fencepost, then a length of fence, then repeat\", then a special case must be made for the final fencepost. If one wants to say \"lay a length of fence, then a fencepost, then repeat\", then a special case must be made for the initial fencepost.",
  "forms": [
    {
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  "pos": "noun",
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      ],
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      ],
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        "computing",
        "engineering",
        "mathematics",
        "natural-sciences",
        "physical-sciences",
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      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/En-au-fencepost_problem.ogg"
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "aidanpylväsvirhe"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Zaunpfahlproblem"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "problem z ustaleniem granic problemu"
    }
  ],
  "word": "fencepost problem"
}

Download raw JSONL data for fencepost problem meaning in English (2.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-18 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-01 using wiktextract (e4a2c88 and 4230888). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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