Classification: |
General |
Category: |
Development |
Created: |
10/13/99 |
Modified: |
09/11/2002 |
Number: |
FAQ-0312 |
Platform: |
Not Applicable |
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Question: What's it all about?
Answer: BigEndian Vs Little Endian is described in http://webopedia.internet.com/TERM/b/big_endian.html.
Refers to which bytes are most significant in multi-byte data types. In big-endian architectures, the leftmost bytes (those
with a lower address) are most significant. In little-endian architectures, the rightmost bytes are most significant. For
example, consider the number 1025 (2 to the tenth power plus one) stored in a 4-byte integer
Big Endian Representation Byte 0 Byte 01 Byte 02 Byte 03 00000000 00000000 00000100 00000001
Little Endian Representation Byte 0 Byte 01 Byte 02 Byte 03 00000001 00000100 00000000 00000000
The "network order" used in tcp/ip and most internet rfcs is big endian
EPOC ARM is little-endian, but has correctly matching graphics hardware, thus avoiding the "x86 + VGA" mistake. Bit ordering: Serial comms uses little endian bit ordering. So, when sending the character 0x01 ( 00000001 binary) the 1 (referred to as the Least Significant Bit, or LSB)
is always transmitted first.
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