![]() When the processor needs to access the stored data, it simply reads out 32 bits from memory address 0x01. The data bus in the system is designed such that there is no chance of mixing up the LSb with the MSb, and all operations use 32-bit data, even if the numbers involved could easily be represented by 16 or even 8 bits. These 32 memory units are collectively assigned an address, say 0x01. This seems simple enough consider the following hypothetical scenario:Ī 32-bit processor is ready to store data, and consequently it transfers 32 bits of data into 32 corresponding memory units. These ones and zeros begin at the least significant bit (LSb-note the lowercase “b”) and end at the most significant bit (MSb). Why We Need Endiannessĭespite Cohen's satirical treatment of big endians versus little endians, the question of endianness is actually very important for how we deal with data.Ī unit of digital information is a sequence of ones and zeros. But such is life-often strange, and always unpredictable. When Swift was writing Gulliver’s Travels sometime in the first quarter of the eighteenth century, he certainly had no idea that his work would one day serve as inspiration for twentieth-century neologisms that specify the arrangement of digital data in memory and communication systems. To explain this issue, he borrowed the terms big endian and little endian from Swift to describe the two opposing sides of the debate surrounding what he called "endianness". ![]() "What is the proper byte order in messages?" In 1980, Israeli computer scientist Danny Cohen wrote a paper (" On Holy Wars and a Plea for Peace") in which he presented a tongue-in-cheek explanation of a similarly petty "war" caused by a single question: The terms originate from Johnathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, in which a civil war breaks out between those who favor breaking boiled eggs on the big end ("big-endians") and those who favor breaking them on the little end ("little-endians"). Rather, the terms "big-endian" and "little-endian" refer to formats of byte arrangement. An "endian" is not a standalone term when discussing data. It turns out, this is not the right question to ask. What do these terms mean and how do they affect engineers? What Is an Endian? If you’re not yet an endian expert, read on!īig endian, little endian, endianness. The various “endian” terms may sound a bit odd, but the underlying concept is straightforward.
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