Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!paperboy!hsdndev!cmcl2!adm!smoke!gwyn
From: gwyn@smoke.brl.mil (Doug Gwyn)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: 64 bit architectures and C/C++
Message-ID: <16037@smoke.brl.mil>
Date: 2 May 91 20:12:38 GMT
References: <168@shasta.Stanford.EDU> <13229@goofy.Apple.COM> <1991May01.222112.13130@sco.COM>
Organization: U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory, APG, MD.
Lines: 12

In article <1991May01.222112.13130@sco.COM> john@sco.COM (John R. MacMillan) writes:
>|It is necessary to have 8, 16, and 32-bit data types, in order to be able
>|to read data from files.
>It's not necessary, but it does make it easier.

Not even that.  Assuming that for some unknown reason you're faced with
reading a binary file that originated on some other system, there is a
fair chance that it used a "big endian" architecture while your system
is "little endian" or vice-versa.

Binary data transportability is a much thornier issue than most people
realize.