A strengthening of the Assmus-Mattson theorem

Let w/sub 1/=d,w/sub 2/,...,w/sub s/ be the weights of the nonzero codewords in a binary linear (n,k,d) code C, and let w'/sub 1/, w'/sub 2/, ..., w'/sub 3/, be the nonzero weights in the dual code C1. Let t be an integer in the range 0or=d+4 then either the words of any nonzero weight w/sub i/ form a (t+1)-design or else the codewords of minimal weight d form a (1,2,...,t,t+2)-design. If in addition C is self-dual with all weights divisible by 4 then the codewords of any given weight w/sub i/ form either a (t +1)-design or a (1,2,...,t,t+2)-design. The proof avoids the use of modular forms.<>