I Prefer Hextets to Octets I've maligned that tyranny of the octet previously, stating my belief that data should be considered as bits over other units, but even when using units I find the octet to be a subpar decision. I see the hextet as preferable in every way, disregarding the many advantages standards give to the octet. Similarly, two hundred and fifty-six is a nicer number than one hundred and twenty-eight, for powers of two which are themselves powers of two are always more pleasant, I feel, and this can be extended even greater; sixteen is a power of two which is a power of two which is a power of two to the first power, which is of course two to the zeroeth power, and I believe such powers of two to be far nicer than those remaining powers of two. The next power of two in this chain is sixty-five thousand five hundred and thirty-six, which is simply too large for one to properly appreciate it as a basic unit. The octet, in comparison, is two to the third power. Furthermore, despite two hundred and fifty-six being two to the power of two to the power of three, that's still a nicer chain than one hundred and twenty-eight has, two to the power of seven. I also find practical reasons to prefer these numbers. I feel, when a decision must be made and every choice seems equal, some reason must be found to pick one over the others, and this decision or its shape should perhaps direct the later decision making. In common programming, I find the hextet to be much more valuable than the octet. One thousand is a much more common number than one hundred, which the hextet can hold yet the octet can't. Octets are usually supported by machines due to historical circumstances more than anything else, given that no units smaller are generally supported. Performance is another fine reason to prefer the hextet over the octet. Four bits, commonly the nibble, is half a byte, commonly an octet, but the hextet stores nibbles just as easily; storing English text as a five-bit code is also more efficient with hextets. I find that best way to avoid preferring octets in practice to be using powers of two in all things.