I'd like to propose allowing the use of byte-order characters in the typecode string used by the array.array class.  

This removes any ambiguity on the order of the data, especially when that data is not known and loaded from an outside source.  You wouldn't need to presume little or big endian machine byteorder or test the system to determine this.  Also, it removes the necessity of byteswapping data that isn't in the correct order.