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Basics Numeration of bytes


Computer's memory has byte organization and every byte has its number (address). Single byte is often not enough quantity of information (for example, integer number in modern computers occupies 4 or even 8 bytes!) So computer must have possibility to save information in several consecutive bytes.

There are two basic ways to pack information into several bytes.

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A. The most significant (leftmost) byte is stored into memory byte with the lowest address (N on the picture). This manner is often called "big-endian". B. The most significant (leftmost) byte is stored into memory byte with the highest address (N+3 on the picture). This manner is often called "little-endian".

MMIX is "big-endian". IBM compatible computers vice versa use an opposite scheme.

Related topics:

"MMIX basics" page
 

  (C) 2001, Evgeny Eremin. rEd-MMI project documentation