Differences between version 11 and revision by previous author of BigEndian.
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| Newer page: | version 11 | Last edited on Thursday, February 24, 2005 4:32:48 am | by HubertFröhlich | Revert |
| Older page: | version 7 | Last edited on Wednesday, October 6, 2004 10:38:27 am | by CraigBox | Revert |
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Big [Endian] is where you send/store the number 0x01020304 as "01 02 03 04". This was traditionally used for larger machines, and since larger machines had network connectivity, NetworkByteOrder has been traditionally BigEndian. [1]
English and most European languages are traditionally BigEndian: we write numbers "1234" when we mean "one thousand, two hundred and thirty four". By contrast, Semitic languages such as Arabic and Hebrew are LittleEndian -- despite the fact that the digits are written in the same order -- because those languages are read right-to-left. So "1234" in Arabic is STILL "one thousand, two hundred and thirty four", it's just read out in reverse order.
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+Funny phenomena in different everyday's languages:
+ * "twenty-one" in English is BigEndian.
+ * "einundzwanzig" in German means "one-and-twenty" and is LittleEndian.
+ * However, this German phenomenon holds only for tens and ones, not for hundreds: "dreihunderteinundzwanzig" means "three-hundred-and-one-and-twenty" and mixes both Endians!!
Most [SiliconGraphicsIndy]'s are BigEndian.
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+What is "little endian" and "big endian" in computer CPUs? See [Endian].
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Compare LittleEndian.
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[1] Big and Little Endian are a reference to the book "Gullivers Travels", where a tribe of tiny people divide themselves into two factions over which end they should cut their eggs open at - the big end, or the little end.
