Endian: Understanding Byte Ordering

Endian: Byte Ordering for Storing Multi-Byte Words

Definition

• Endian refers to the byte ordering of multi-byte words in computer memory
• It determines the sequence of bytes in a word when stored in memory

Types of Endian

• Big Endian (BE)
  • Most significant byte (MSB) stored first
  • Example: 0x12 0x34 0x56 0x78 stored as 12 34 56 78
• Little Endian (LE)
  • Least significant byte (LSB) stored first
  • Example: 0x12 0x34 0x56 0x78 stored as 78 56 34 12

Importance of Endian

• Critical in network communication protocols (e.g., TCP/IP) to ensure correct data transmission
• Affects data storage and retrieval in computer systems
• Impacts the interpretation of data in different computer architectures

Endian Conversion

• Necessary when transferring data between systems with different endianness
• Can be done using bitwise operations (e.g., ntohl() and htonl() in C)

Endian: Byte Ordering for Storing Multi-Byte Words

Definition

• Endian refers to the byte ordering of multi-byte words in computer memory, determining the sequence of bytes in a word when stored in memory.

Types of Endian

• Big Endian (BE): Most significant byte (MSB) stored first, e.g., 0x12 0x34 0x56 0x78 stored as 12 34 56 78.
• Little Endian (LE): Least significant byte (LSB) stored first, e.g., 0x12 0x34 0x56 0x78 stored as 78 56 34 12.

Importance of Endian

• Critical in network communication protocols, such as TCP/IP, to ensure correct data transmission.
• Affects data storage and retrieval in computer systems.
• Impacts the interpretation of data in different computer architectures.

Endian Conversion

• Necessary when transferring data between systems with different endianness.
• Can be done using bitwise operations, such as ntohl() and htonl() in C.