Where “KindeX” comes from

KindeX comes from index. It reads “kin-dex”, but say it however you like.

Back in the Pascal days I was writing a program with a type called Index, and I had three loop variables — the senior, the middle and the junior one: i, j, k. Everything was fine until I needed a variable called index. Pascal, my favourite language, objected:

Error 4: Duplicate identifier (Index).

Fine, I thought, I like the name. Pascal again:

Error 4: Duplicate identifier (k).

So I crossed the junior variable k with index — and got kIndex. It sounded good. Then I forgot about the program.

Half a year later I urgently needed a nickname, stumbled upon that program again and remembered kIndex. It has been my nickname ever since; only the spelling changed. First it was kIndeX, but people kept mixing up a capital I with a lowercase l. Then plain “kindex” — but a nickname without a single capital letter just doesn’t look right. “Kindex” was too simple, “KINDEX” too loud. You may also have seen kInDeX and k[index].

I first signed as kindex in June 1999. Today I sign as KindeX.