character codes, was RE: Really stupid PDP assembler question

From: Tony Duell <ard_at_p850ug1.demon.co.uk>
Date: Sat Jun 26 16:41:46 2004

>
> On Fri, 2004-06-25 at 16:47, David V. Corbin wrote:
>
> > "What significant advantage did octal have over hex notation (especially in
> > the late '60s timeframe)?"
>
> I'm a bit skeptical of the printer-hardware answer. Printing calculators
> don't care about notation, only humans do.

Remember this predates dot matrix printers on calculators. The printers
we're talking about had a typewheel with perhaps 12 positions round it
(0-9, decimal point, minus sign). Either one per column or one that was
shifted across the paper.

It would have been possible to make one with 16 characters round the
wheel, but I've never seen one.

> (Why five? how many fingers you got?)

8 (and 2 thumbs), like most people :-)

-tony
Received on Sat Jun 26 2004 - 16:41:46 BST