Leon CowleHahahahahahaha. Indeed!
shroomie/joan (of the agaric system)@leoncowle i know that it’s significant cause like, 256 is a multiple of eight, which is a even and computery number that people like, but is there a more specific reason to choose 256 over something else?
@shroomie It seems you're really asking (and not trolling). 255 is the largest number you can hold in an unsigned 8-bit integer (“11111111” binary equals 255 decimal), also called a "byte”. So if the internal variable they're using as their member counter for this is an unsigned 8 bit integer, then it can't hold a number larger than 255. And 0-255 is 256 numbers.
(Note: they could be using a larger variable (i.e. with more bits), but only reserved 8 bits of it for this counter).
@leoncowle so basically, they chose it because it’s the largest thing they could choose?
@shroomie Definitely making certain assumptions here, but yes, there's a fair chance they used the maximum value that their counter variable could be set to.
chuckadeus kummerer@leoncowle @shroomie if they actually chose an 8 bit uint they are idiots , I think what happened is closer to (quoting from memory from the unofficial c FAQ on arbitrary numbers): "if you have to choose an arbitrary number always choose a power of two or a power of two minus one because then people will assume there was some deep reasoning involved"