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Article #11602Re: bi-endian environments
From: Henry Spencer
Date: Wed, 15 May 1991 22:51
Date: Wed, 15 May 1991 22:51
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In article <12168@uwm.edu> jgd@convex.csd.uwm.edu writes: >> This is what "network byte order" is all about... > >Silly question time: What is a "byte"? >There seems to be an assumption of 8-bitted-ness here. We (until >recently) had a machine running Unix that used 9-bit bytes. How >does this map into your assumptions? Poorly, like the 36-bit machines and other oddities. The fact is that almost all network protocols are specified as sequences of 8-bit bytes. (The word "octet" is often used as a more neutral term.) If your machine doesn't like 8-bit bytes, that is its problem. :-) The usual approach is to pick one of several revolting kludges. -- And the bean-counter replied, | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology "beans are more important". | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry
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Newsgroups: comp.arch Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!henry From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: bi-endian environments Message-ID: <1991May15.225146.1201@zoo.toronto.edu> Date: Wed, 15 May 1991 22:51:46 GMT References: <1991May15.004848.11929@sobeco.com> <12168@uwm.edu> Organization: U of Toronto Zoology