What does "itoa" stand for in strconv.Itoa?

Question

This might sound like a silly question... But I can't find anywhere what the "a" in strconv.Itoa actually stands for. If its taking an integer and turning it into a string, why isn't the function called Itos?

Lauro

it stands for integer to ascii: #2910268 – Mihalco

Answer 1

integer to ASCII. It comes from the C language/UNIX. See this thread for more: Where did the name `atoi` come from?

In the C language, there is no concept such as strings, you have arrays of characters that are null terminated.

Thanks to @mvp!

Funderburk

Also, it's called itoa because the precedent set by C to use that name for this kind of conversion. – Footman

Was editing my comment to add that, when I noticed it was tagged Go. Thanks! – Funderburk

this is wrong. A is coming from ASCII, not from array: #2910268 – Mihalco

The guys who developed Go at Google, also wrote most of Unix and Plan9. So there are many other Unix references littered throughout the documentation. – Mcbee

It doesn't really make sense. It's historical baggage that the Go apis have mostly abandoned - but not in this case. Despite UTF8 adoption growing, ASCII is not yet dead, alas. – Setula