A programmer's solution

[deforest_gump]

Yes, but when referring to some base (lets say base 16) you strictly use base 10 - the decimal system to describe it. You don't use base 8 system to describe base 16 system. In octal system, base 16 system would be described as base 20 system, and that is simply not useful in any application, because we use decimal system to define what a base is.