No. Python and a few other languages (e.g., C++, Ruby, Snobol, Perl) allow negative indices. A list index of -k mean the k-th item from the end of the list. Hence, L[-1] refers to the last item in list L. Students should think of negative indexing as Indexing from the right end.
| string | B | i | l | l | G | a | t | e | s | |
| index | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| negative Index | -10 | -9 | -8 | -7 | -6 | -5 | -4 | -3 | -2 | -1 |
Note that name[10] and name [-11] result in an IndexError.
Negative indices can be confusing at first. When used correctly they can simplify a program and its logic. Students should think of negative indexing as Indexing from the right end. Languages that do not support negative indexing include Java and C.
