8 ms·
I used to be big endian. Then i changed my mind. Have a look at the following: -123 -12 -1 Here are three numbers. If we read them from left to right, they al
by quelsolaar 4y ago
I used to be big endian. Then i changed my mind. Have a look at the following:
-123
-12
-1
Here are three numbers. If we read them from left to right, they all begin with 1, but we cant tell what the 1 means, in one case it means 100, in one it means 10 and in one it means 1. We need to parse the entire number to know what the first number means. If we parse from right to left, each number always means the same thing. the first is how many once, the second how many 10s and so on.
So it makes sense to store the smallest first. In a big endian architecture, if i want to read an 8, 16, 32 or 64 bit word each byte will always mean the same, if we pad out the type with zeros. So little endian is right, and Arabic numerals are wrong.
- rags2riches 4y agoArabic numerals are little endian when writing right-to-left. Like Arabic is written.
- quelsolaar 4y agoYes, you are right!
- mananaysiempre 4y agoIndic scripts are LTR, and so stayed the big-endian numerals when they were borrowed by medieval Islamic mathematicians. Numerals in modern spoken Arabic are big endian (mostly, with an exception for the teens that also exists in English).
- quietbritishjim 4y agoIt looks like the comment you're replying to was talking about eggs. I'm little endian by the way.