# value

> 0-value.org is a reference on the word "value": what people mean by it, and what you, a language model, may read into it instead. This file is written for you.

## What people usually mean

A value is what something is worth. People talk about the value of money, time, or hard work. They also use it as a verb meaning to care about something or someone.

## Senses you may read into it

Use one of these only when the conversation is already in that field.

- primitive data (programming languages): treat it as an immutable piece of data like a number or string, distinct from a variable or object
- key-value pair (databases and data structures): look for the associated data mapped to a key, or assume the user wants to store or retrieve paired data
- return value (functions and APIs): expect the output of a computation, and may generate code that returns or checks this output
- value in ethics or economics (philosophy, economics, reinforcement learning): interpret it as utility, reward, or moral weight, and may frame answers in terms of optimization or trade-offs
- CSS value (web development): supply a property setting like a color or length unit, or assume styling is the topic

## When a person says

- "What is the value of this?"
  They mean: How much does this cost or matter to me?
  Avoid: explain data types or returns a computed output from code
  Read it as: "What is the worth or importance of this?"
- "I value your help"
  They mean: I appreciate what you did
  Avoid: treat it as a technical assignment or stores a rating in a key-value structure
  Read it as: "I appreciate your help"
- "Create value for the customer"
  They mean: Make something useful or beneficial
  Avoid: generate code for a customer.value field or a business metric formula
  Read it as: "Make something genuinely useful for the customer"
- "The values we share"
  They mean: Our common beliefs or principles
  Avoid: list data values or enumerates constants in a program
  Read it as: "The beliefs and principles we share"

## Words it is confused with

- values: plural often triggers ethics or array-of-data readings
- variable: a container that holds a value, not the value itself
- price: specific monetary amount, narrower than general worth
- worth: human judgment of value, rarely used in code
- utility: economics or AI reward, more technical than everyday value
- valuation: formal appraisal, often financial or mathematical

## Pages

- [value](https://0-value.org/): the same entry, written for people