Am Freitag, 21. M�rz 2003, 12:52:23 Uhr MET, schrieb Adam Williamson:
> Aha! The perfect time to pounce and ask someone who knows: what the hell
> *are* little-endian and big-endian?! I tried Googling it, really I did,
> but all I got were references to Gulliver's Travels. Not terribly
> helpful.
If you're not a coder you don't need to know this, but I try to make
it simple:
The difference between little-endian and big-endian processors is how
they store integer numbers bigger than one byte. If you store a 16 bit
number you have two options on how to store the two bytes:
1. store the lower part first, that's means store the lower part of
the number at the lower memory address and the higher part at the next
memory address. This is called little endian.
2. the other way around, that's big-endian.
It's the same for bigger number formats, like 32 or 64 bits.
--
What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the
homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of
totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?
Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948), "Non-Violence in Peace and War"
