UNIX Arcana [was Re: Perl (or Unix vs. MS, actually) ]

[Jon Hall]

To throw a bit (pun un-intentional) more into this discussion, don't assume
that a "byte" was eight bits.  The PDP-8, Linc-8 and PDP-12 for instance, were
all twelve bit words, broken down into two six-bit characters.

Nevertheless, back in those days saving a few bits for every entry in a symbol
table was worth the time and effort.

md
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Jon "maddog" Hall
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