Message90107
In http://docs.python.org/dev/library/struct.html,
it says
"Native byte order is big-endian or little-endian, depending on the host
system. For example, Motorola and Sun processors are big-endian; Intel
and DEC processors are little-endian."
This is a gross over-generalization at best. Off the top of my head,
current Linux kernels run the Intel Itanium in big-endian mode. (Though,
I don't recall if there's a non-privileged instruction to flip
endianness, system headers and system calls are defined in big-endian
order, which is what's most relevant to the struct module.) Sun SPARC
v9 is bi-endian. Intel Itanium and XScale processors are bi-endian. Dec
Alphas are bi-endian. (Though, I'm only aware of Cray using Alphas in
big-endian mode.)
The quoted paragraph should name specific processors which are single-
endian (Intel Core 2, Sun SPARC v8) and/or provide a Wikipedia
reference, rather than making incorrect statements.
Intel Itanium machines running Linux are probably the most common
systems where this statement's inaccuracy is likely to cause confusion
among developers. |
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Date |
User |
Action |
Args |
2009-07-04 07:46:31 | kmag | set | recipients:
+ kmag, georg.brandl |
2009-07-04 07:46:30 | kmag | set | messageid: <1246693590.67.0.013392500744.issue6414@psf.upfronthosting.co.za> |
2009-07-04 07:46:28 | kmag | link | issue6414 messages |
2009-07-04 07:46:27 | kmag | create | |
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