[Tutor] Bits operations [another version of binary() using hex()]

[Jeff Shannon]

Thomas Clive Richards wrote:

>The small trouble that i have with using octal as an intermediate step
>between decimal and binary is that one octal digit represents 3 binary
>digits, and this is not easily divisible into an 8 or 16 bit binary
>number. 
>

Once upon a time, there were a variety of mainframe/minicomputer systems 
that were based on 18- or 27-bit words.  For these machines, each 9-bit 
byte would be exactly representable by a 3-digit octal number. 
 Nowadays, virtually every machine on the market uses a word length 
that's some power of two (8, 16, 32, 64), so it makes more sense to use 
hex, where each 8-bit byte is exactly representable by 2 hex digits.  In 
my opinion, support for octal is now a historical relic.  (Keep in mind, 
though, that some historical relics have a long and productive lifetime 
-- COBOL comes to mind.  Despite its "obsolescense", COBOL is still one 
of the most-used computer languages.)

Jeff Shannon
Technician/Programmer
Credit International