This is the mail archive of the
gcc@gcc.gnu.org
mailing list for the GCC project.
Re: Endian swapping with C code on ARM
mrs@apple.com (Mike Stump) wrote on 14.07.04 in <92D3A849-D5CF-11D8-A2A3-000393941EE6@apple.com>:
> On Jul 14, 2004, at 5:27 AM, Andreas Schwab wrote:
>
> > Falk Hueffner <hueffner@informatik.uni-tuebingen.de> writes:
> >
> >> In the documentation I explicitely point out that "byte" always means
> >> exactly 8 bit in this context.
> >
> > Maybe the term should be changed to "octet" to make it clearer.
>
> byte is perfectly clear. It always means 8 bits.
Byte is perfectly clear, and it does *not* always mean "8 bits". It means
"the things numbered by a standard pointer".
While on typical modern CPUs this always is 8 bits, not all the world is a
typical modern CPU. IIRC, historically, bytes have ranged at least from 6
to 36 bits.
MfG Kai