about BigEndian and LittleEndian

[Richard Bos]

EventHelix.com <[email protected]> scribbled the following


Says who?

Well, the Standard says that FP numbers are represented as those parts.
It says nothing about the order they're in, though.

Richard

 

[Irrwahn Grausewitz]

FS(H)VO Zen.

???

 

[Dan Pop]

EventHelix.com <[email protected]> scribbled the following


But you don't have to swap 24, 40, 48 or 56 bit numbers?

Joona, what's the point in posting to a thread where you have absolutely
nothing to contribute?

Dan

 

[Dan Pop]

short and long convertion work fine, but how about double? any suggestion?

Both platforms use the same floating point format, but the byte order has
to be reversed. This can be trivially achieved using two pointers to
unsigned char.

Dan

 

[squig]

EventHelix.com <[email protected]> scribbled the following


But you don't have to swap 24, 40, 48 or 56 bit numbers?

--
/-- Joona Palaste ([email protected]) ------------- Finland --------\
\-- http://www.helsinki.fi/~palaste --------------------- rules! --------/
"Nothing lasts forever - so why not destroy it now?"
- Quake

You have an example of a platform and O/S that only uses 3, 5, 6 or 7 bytes
for (multi-byte) binary numbers?

 

[Dan Pop]

Martijn Lievaart wrote:

(snip)


IBM, at least, seems to like it. The S/360 object code files contain a
few different types of records, ESD (external symbol dictionary), RLD
(relocation dictionary), TXT (the instructions and data),

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Isn't it instructions and *read-only* data?

and END (maybe you can figure out that one).

It's also common Unix terminology:

fangorn:~/tmp 217> size a.out
text data bss dec hex filename
855 220 24 1099 44b a.out

Dan

 

[Gene Wirchenko]

'Mu' (at least in this case) isn't Finnish; it is a Zen reply,
with the approximate meaning: "The only way to know the answer
to this question is not asking this question.", or, in short:
"I am un-asking your question."

Another way it is used is with the meaning: "Your question assumes
something that is not the case, and so is unaswerable."

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

 

[Gene Wirchenko]

You have an example of a platform and O/S that only uses 3, 5, 6 or 7 bytes
for (multi-byte) binary numbers?

If the mantissa portion counts as a multi-byte binary number,
then yes, quite a few. If (and that is a rather big if) IRC,
Commodore had a 6-byte floating point format. That was for their
BASIC.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

 

[Martijn Lievaart]

You have an example of a platform and O/S that only uses 3, 5, 6 or 7 bytes
for (multi-byte) binary numbers?

No, but I know one that uses 60 bit words (and 6 bit characters)

M4

 

[Mike Wahler]

Another way it is used is with the meaning: "Your question assumes
something that is not the case, and so is unaswerable."

So why not the English word 'moot'?

-Mike

 

[Gene Wirchenko]

So why not the English word 'moot'?

There are two relevant definitions of "moot". They are
practically opposites. From dictionary.com:
"Subject to debate; arguable: a moot question."
"Of no practical importance; irrelevant."
It would be a most unsafe word to use in this context!

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

 

[Mike Wahler]

[the word 'Mu']

is used is with the meaning: "Your question assumes

There are two relevant definitions of "moot". They are
practically opposites. From dictionary.com:
"Subject to debate; arguable: a moot question."

I've never heard of this definition before.

"Of no practical importance; irrelevant."

This is the only meaning I was aware of.

It would be a most unsafe word to use in this context!

English can indeed often be a 'slippery' language.

-Mike

 

[Dan Pop]

No, but I know one that uses 60 bit words (and 6 bit characters)

And no genuine bytes at all, so byte swapping is a non issue ;-)
One of the most C-unfriendly platforms, BTW.

Dan

 

[Dan Pop]

There are two relevant definitions of "moot". They are
practically opposites. From dictionary.com:
"Subject to debate; arguable: a moot question."
"Of no practical importance; irrelevant."
It would be a most unsafe word to use in this context!

While the dictionary is correct, in general, it is dead wrong in the
context of "moot question", which means a question rendered irrelevant
by other arguments. I've never seen it used with any other meaning.

Typical example of moot question, picked from comp.std.c: does the
standard require EXIT_SUCCESS to be defined as zero?

Dan

 

[Dan Pop]

English can indeed often be a 'slippery' language.

Perversely slippery, even.

Dan

 

[Gene Wirchenko]

[the word 'Mu']

is used is with the meaning: "Your question assumes

There are two relevant definitions of "moot". They are
practically opposites. From dictionary.com:
"Subject to debate; arguable: a moot question."

I've never heard of this definition before.

It is the original definition.

This is the only meaning I was aware of.


English can indeed often be a 'slippery' language.

Quite.

1) After she dusted the shelves, she went for a walk to see the
trees dusted in snow.

2) Did you sanction the sanctions against Iraq?

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

 

[Keith Thompson]

[the word 'Mu']

is used is with the meaning: "Your question assumes

There are two relevant definitions of "moot". They are
practically opposites. From dictionary.com:
"Subject to debate; arguable: a moot question."

I've never heard of this definition before.

Perhaps you've heard the phrase "moot court"?

In any case, it's a moot point (by either definition).

 

[Irrwahn Grausewitz]

While the dictionary is correct, in general, it is dead wrong in the
context of "moot question", which means a question rendered irrelevant
by other arguments. I've never seen it used with any other meaning.

Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
of Current English, Third Edition:

*moot* /adj/ (only in) ~ point/question, one
about which there is uncertainty. /vt/ raise
or bring forward for discussion: /This question
has been ~ed again./

Typical example of moot question, picked from comp.std.c: does the
standard require EXIT_SUCCESS to be defined as zero?

Surely, for some people seem to be uncertain about it. ;-)

HTH
Regards

 

[Gene Wirchenko]

Perversely slippery, even.

And oddly perverse even.

It is a fascinating language, but even tricky at times for a
native-speaker (I am one).

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

 

[Gene Wirchenko]

On 25 Nov 2003 19:48:36 GMT, (e-mail address removed) (Dan Pop) wrote:

[snip]

While the dictionary is correct, in general, it is dead wrong in the
context of "moot question", which means a question rendered irrelevant
by other arguments. I've never seen it used with any other meaning.

I have, though granted, the original usage is now rare. The term
has become, what some--alt.usage.english for some--call, skunked.
Because of the contrary meanings, it has become unsafe to use if one
wishes precision and exactness.

Typical example of moot question, picked from comp.std.c: does the
standard require EXIT_SUCCESS to be defined as zero?

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko