Was x86 segmented address aliasing a pitfall to be avoided or an advantage that actual code used?

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The way 8086 and up implement segments is kind of funny. A 16-bit segment register is shifted left by 4 and then added to the address. This naturally produces a lot of possible collisions (say 0x0000:0050 colliding with 0x0001:0040 ). Wikipedia says : This could be confusing to programmers accustomed to unique addressing schemes, but it can also be used to advantage, for example when addressing…

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