Ode to Eight Bits

by Lee A. Hart

It's not easy using eight
When your friends all use sixteen.
They claim octal is passe'
And is doomed to fade away.
So change now 'fore it's too late.

But folks demand a lot from you
At sixteen or thirty-two.
They'll expect you to define
The 157th prime
In a millisec, or two.

Pity those with only four
Condemned as just calcula-tor.
They are forced to work as slaves
In ovens, clocks, and microwaves.
Such a dreadful, mindless bore.

But eight's just right for ASCII codes,
Characters and ESCape modes.
I can learn it byte by byte,
No segment registers in sight,
And no distressing address modes.

Eight counts the fingers I can see
And that suits me perfectly.
So I think eight bits will do,
And if it's all right with you,
Eight's exactly right for me.

I wrote this shortly after the untimely death of Jim Henson. It is of course a "filk" of Kermit the frog's song "It's Not Easy Being Green".