Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rutgers!ames!cit-vax!mangler From: mangler@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu (System Mangler) Newsgroups: comp.arch,comp.sys.intel,comp.sys.m68k Subject: Re: byte order: be reasonable - do it my way... Message-ID: <1478@cit-vax.Caltech.Edu> Date: Mon, 12-Jan-87 05:34:47 EST Article-I.D.: cit-vax.1478 Posted: Mon Jan 12 05:34:47 1987 Date-Received: Mon, 12-Jan-87 18:49:48 EST References: <760@orcisi.UUCP> <1011@cuuxb.UUCP> Organization: California Institute of Technology Lines: 7 Summary: type punning Xref: mnetor comp.arch:182 comp.sys.intel:95 comp.sys.m68k:105 The advantage of little-endian is that it allows type punning, giving the optimizer a little something extra to work with. The advantage of big-endian is that it disallows type punning, making it easy to catch non-portable programming practices. Don Speck speck@vlsi.caltech.edu {seismo,rutgers,ames}!cit-vax!speck