I'm going to guess that you are unfamiliar with Boolean logic operators, shift operators, etc. that are a part of many languages (C and C++ being the most popular). Introducing a new base would indeed break a good deal of code that relies on a these constructs which are based (no pun intended) in a binary number system. The |, &, and ^ operators in C/C++ would have to take on new meaning or possibly be deprecated. Shift operators (<< and >>) are often used for divide and mulitply by 2 -- what happens to that functionality?
And let's not forget all of those hours spent in Algebra/Geometry/Calculus doing truth tables and proofs based on Boolean logic. I'm too far in debt from my college education to just throw away all of that valuable knowledge!:-)
Slashdot Mirror
I'm going to guess that you are unfamiliar with Boolean logic operators, shift operators, etc. that are a part of many languages (C and C++ being the most popular). Introducing a new base would indeed break a good deal of code that relies on a these constructs which are based (no pun intended) in a binary number system. The |, &, and ^ operators in C/C++ would have to take on new meaning or possibly be deprecated. Shift operators (<< and >>) are often used for divide and mulitply by 2 -- what happens to that functionality?
:-)
And let's not forget all of those hours spent in Algebra/Geometry/Calculus doing truth tables and proofs based on Boolean logic. I'm too far in debt from my college education to just throw away all of that valuable knowledge!
greg