Why do they choose numbers like 16, 32, 128 in programming?
<p>Sometimes in code, I see the developer chooses a number like 32 for a package of data. Or in a game, the loaded terrain of a map has the size of 128*128 points.
I know it has something to do with the maximum size of datatypes. Like a Char has 8 bits, etc.<br>
But why don't they just use numbers like 100*100 for a map, a list, or a Minecraft chunk?  </p>

<p>If I have 8 bits to store a (positive) number, I can count to 2^8 = 256.
When I choose the size of a map chunk, I could choose a width of 250 in stead of 256. But it seems that is not a good idea. Why?</p>