-endian

data, architecture The ordering of bytes in a multi-byte

number.

The term comes from Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" via the

famous paper "On Holy Wars and a Plea for Peace" by Danny

Cohen, USC/ISI IEN 137, 1980-04-01.

The Lilliputians, being very small, had correspondingly small

political problems. The Big-Endian and Little-Endian parties

debated over whether soft-boiled eggs should be opened at the

big end or the little end.

See big-endian, little-endian, middle-endian, holywars, NUXI problem, swab.

(1998-08-09)