On Fri, May 22, 2009 at 8:36 AM, Bodvar Bjorgvinsson <bod...@gmail.com> wrote: > I agree that the writer must love the language, but he/she must > refrain from using "words such as 'transmogrify'" unless there is a > very good reason for it _and_ you have the word explained in the > "Terms and Definitions" section. ;-) > Have KISS in mind - as much as practicable, when writing technical manuals. > > Regarding the "endianess", I had a problem some 13 years ago with some > UNIX software that was supposed to work on Linux. It did not. I sent a > query to an Icelandic guy on the "Basic Linux Training" list I > subscribed to and he came up with a solution. Then he expained to me > that there was a difference between Linux an UNIX that one used big > endian and the other little endian in the same code of software. The > first time I saw the term(s) I thought this must be a misspelling, > knowing that programmers often have weird kind of humor. What would it > be they referred to as Indians? > > To this day I have not had any explanation understandable to me what > the real difference is. Neither have i had any problems with little or > big endians (or any sort of Indians) since. ;-) > > Bodvar I also ran into "endian" while documenting a UNIX application. A subject-matter expert (SME) patiently explained it to me, though my impression at the time was that he was a little uncertain. Perhaps the uncertainty was about the explanation itself, not about his grasp of the concept.
His explanation was simply that some processor chips interpret binary code (ones and zeroes) from the "Big end" and others "Little end." So a binary number that appears like 1000 to one chip would appear as 0001 to the other. I forget whether the big end is on the left or the right. While it made enough sense to me to move on with my project, the whole endianness issue came up in the first place because he introduced it in explaining communication protocols. I was trying to understand why an illustration of two protocols communicating between computers didn't seem correct. It used two parallel lines; one for TCP/IP, and the other for another protocol. I was supposed to add a third protocol to the illustration, but a third parallel line didn't /quite seem proper. After a bunch of interviews with different SMEs, I was able to dig out the key: a particular protocol is indicated by code that precedes a packet of information, and usually also is appended to the packet. The codes identify the protocol, so the packet contents are processed correctly. All the packets move on the same network channel; each protocol is identified by different code around the packets. I corrected the illustration to indicate one communication line between the computers; sets of identifiers, like "xpacketx ypackety zpacketz," indicated the x, y, and z protocols moving along the single line. In addition, if you haven't already, search Google for endian. Regards, Peter __________________ Peter Gold KnowHow ProServices _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to Framers as arch...@mail-archive.com. Send list messages to fram...@lists.frameusers.com. To unsubscribe send a blank email to framers-unsubscr...@lists.frameusers.com or visit http://lists.frameusers.com/mailman/options/framers/archive%40mail-archive.com Send administrative questions to listad...@frameusers.com. Visit http://www.frameusers.com/ for more resources and info.