this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2025
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You could save 0.64 bit per char more if you actually treated you output as a binary number (using 6 bits per char) and didn't go through the intermediary string (implicitly using base 100 at 6.64 bits per char).
This would also make your life easier by allowing bit manipulation to slice/move parts and reducing work for the processor because base 100 means integer divisions, and base 64 means bit shifts. If you want to go down the road of a "complicated" base use base 38 and get similar drawbacks as now, except only 5.25 bits per char.
I was so triggered by the conversion from char-to-int-to-string-to-packedint that I had to write a bitwise version that just does char-to-packedint (and back again), with bitwise operators.
https://pastebin.com/V2An9Xva
As others have pointed out, there are probably better options for doing this today in most real-life situations, but it might make sense on old low-spec systems if not for all the intermediate conversion steps, which is why I wrote this.