Author here. It's true that you'd need one more bit to represent a bit position in a word, like for shifts, but we're already vastly over-provisioned; even in 64-bit registers we're only using six of eight bits. (Plus, in a lot of places we'd have that extra bit around!)

Some hardware circuits are a bit nicer with power-of-two sizes but I don't think it's a huge difference, and hardware has to include weird stuff like 24-bit and 53-bit multipliers for floating-point anyway (which in this alternate world would be probably 28-bit and 60-bit?). Not sure a few extra gates would be a dealbreaker.

▲ 15155 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

> Some hardware circuits are a bit nicer with power-of-two sizes

Basically all FIFOs or addressable memory works far nicer with power-of-two sizes.

▲ a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

[deleted]

▲ DrNosferatu 6 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

- Why not 12 bits?

▲ adastra22 6 days ago | parent [-]

Why not 10? 1 byte ~= 1k values. Nice easy conversions.

	▲	seanhunter 5 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Weird bytelengths were very much the norm in early computing but noone (seemingly) ever mass-produced a 10 bit computer[1]. `In the first 3⁄4 of the 20th century, n is often 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 48 or 60. In the last 1⁄3 of the 20th century, n is often 8, 16, or 32, and in the 21st century, n is often 16, 32 or 64, but other sizes have been used (including 6, 39, 128).` [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_instruction_set_...
	▲	devoutsalsa 6 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I used to use a 32 bit bite! Then I has my wisdom teeth removed, and now I have a 28 bit bite.

▲ nicman23 6 days ago | parent | prev [-]

hehe a bit nicer