Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!sugar!ficc!peter
From: peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: "big endian" and "little endian" - first usage for computer
Message-ID: <2616@ficc.uu.net>
Date: 4 Jan 89 15:52:12 GMT
References: <2766@cbnews.ATT.COM> <10147@well.UUCP> <13045@cup.portal.com> <13115@cup.portal.com>
Organization: Xenix Support
Lines: 14

>Big endian has the significant advantage that, when properly aligned,
>character strings can be compared using the full width of the machine's
>ALU.

When you have a situation where fast full-string compares are vital, and
there's no better algorithm available (for example, minimising the
comparisons by using a better search algorithm or a tree), there's no
reason you can't re-order the bytes in each word while you're copying them
into the properly aligned buffers during initialisation.
-- 
Peter da Silva, Xenix Support, Ferranti International Controls Corporation.
Work: uunet.uu.net!ficc!peter, peter@ficc.uu.net, +1 713 274 5180.   `-_-'
Home: bigtex!texbell!sugar!peter, peter@sugar.uu.net.                 'U`
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