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[lojban] Re: Gone 1 1/2 years...



Craig wrote:

Is the default radix still decimal?  I had argued it should be
hexadecimal.

There is a good case to be made for both hex and dozenal.

HOWEVER, Lojban is trying to be easy for people. Not as its primary goal,
obviously, but we don't want to alienate all of our learners. Making the
non-mathematically-inclined people who might want to learn the language have
to jump through hoops to understand all of our numbers is the worng way to
go about spreading the language, no matter how good the reasons for the
change. Consequently, if a proposal came before the BPFK to make the default
radix be hex, I would vote it down. Not because hex is harmful - it isn't -
but because the change would make it harder for new people to learn Lojban,
thus making it harder for Lojban to spread.
Hex is currently in vogue because we think binary computers are cool, but there is nothing to make it inherently superior. As a kid, I was a big fan of octal.

robin.tr

--
"I can say: 'Thank these bees for their honey as though they were kind people who have prepared it for you'; that is intelligible and describes how I should like you to conduct yourself. But I cannot say: 'Thank them because, look, how kind they are!'--since the next moment they may sting you.
- Wittgenstein

Robin Turner
IDMYO
Bilkent Univeritesi
Ankara 06533
Turkey

www.bilkent.edu.tr/~robin