  We compare the performance of short-length linear binary codes on the binary
erasure channel and the binary-input Gaussian channel. We use a universal
decoder that can decode any linear binary block code: Gaussian-elimination
based Maximum-Likelihood decoder on the erasure channel and probabilistic
Ordered Statistics Decoder on the Gaussian channel. As such we compare codes
and not decoders. The word error rate versus the channel parameter is found for
LDPC, Reed-Muller, Polar, and BCH codes at length 256 bits. BCH codes
outperform other codes in absence of cyclic redundancy check. Under joint
decoding, the concatenation of a cyclic redundancy check makes all codes
perform very close to optimal lower bounds.
