--On fredag, desember 21, 2001 18:55:47 +0100 Daniel Kraft
<privat(_at_)daniel-kraft(_dot_)net> wrote:
Does the base64-algorithm encode a string to a string which uses 7 bits
fully (so to say a 7-bit-binary string)?
Or uses it only 6 bits fully (I mean, if all bits can have a value of 0 or
1, and not, that some bits have a fixed value)?
64 different characters (thence its name).
This COULD have been represented in 6 bits, the 2 remaining ones held
constant, but isn't.
The set of 64 characters was chosen so that characters likely to be mangled
by mail gateways existant at the time were not used.
At that time, for instance, it was likely that | (verticalbar) would turn
into o (lower case O) if it passed a Bitnet gateway in Scandinavia.
Luckily, a lot of those gateways are now a thing of the past.
Daniel
PS: Sorry for spelling or grammar mistakes!
---
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