Significance of Most Significant Byte (MSbyte) in Little and Big Endian
Understanding the concept of the Most Significant Byte (MSbyte) helps clarify endianness further. Let’s use a decimal number to illustrate.
Consider the decimal number 2,984. Changing the digit 4 to 5 increases the number by 1, while changing the digit 2 to 3 increases the number by 1,000. This concept applies to bytes and bits as well.
- Most Significant Byte (MSbyte): The byte that holds the highest position value.
- Least Significant Byte (LSbyte): The byte that holds the lowest position value.
In big-endian format, the MSbyte is stored first. In little-endian format, the MSbyte is stored last.
What is Endianness? Big-Endian & Little-Endian
Computers operate using binary code, a language made up of 0s and 1s. This binary code forms the foundation of all computer operations, enabling everything from rendering videos to processing complex algorithms. A single bit is a 0 or a 1, and eight bits make up a byte. While some data, such as certain English characters, can be represented by a single byte, other data types require multiple bytes. The concept of endianness is crucial in understanding how these bytes are read and interpreted by computers.