BigEndian

Big-endian is a method of storing and transmitting multi-byte integers in which the most significant byte is placed at the lowest memory address and transmitted first. In contrast, little-endian stores the least significant byte first. Endianness affects how data is laid out in memory and in communication, and it can influence data interpretation across systems.

In networking contexts, big-endian is often referred to as network byte order. When transmitting a 32-bit value such as 0x12345678 over a network, a big-endian system would send the bytes 12 34 56 78 in that order. Conversions between host and network order may be required when communicating between machines with different endianness, typically using byte-swapping operations.

Origins and terminology: The phrases big-endian and little-endian were popularized in the computing community in the 1980s, drawing an analogy to a debate in Gulliver’s Travels about breaking eggs at the big end or the small end. The terms describe which end of a multi-byte value is stored first, not a measure of performance or capability.

Architectures and usage: Classic big-endian systems include the Motorola 68000 family, SPARC hardware, and many early IBM mainframes. Some modern processors support bothendianness, allowing software to operate in either mode; examples include ARM, IBM PowerPC, and MIPS in bi-endian configurations. Today, x86 architectures are predominantly little-endian, while networking protocols and many historical computing environments continue to rely on big-endian conventions.

Practical implications: Endianness matters for file formats, data serialization, and cross-platform communication. Developers often implement explicit byte-order handling to ensure consistent interpretation of multi-byte values across different systems.