Talk:Byte

Article Checklist for "Byte"

Workgroup category or categories	Computers Workgroup [Editors asked to check categories]
Article status	Developing article: beyond a stub, but incomplete
Underlinked article?	Yes
Basic cleanup done?	Yes
Checklist last edited by	--Eric M Gearhart 16:52, 6 April 2007 (CDT)

To learn how to fill out this checklist, please see CZ:The Article Checklist.

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missing on purpose?

Hi, I miss info about the small and big-endian. It should IMHO be part of the byte story. Robert Tito |  Talk  20:54, 6 April 2007 (CDT)

I did not mention it because, quite honestly, that's largely outside my scope of knowledge. If you're knowledgeable in that area, we would appreciate a contribution to the article :) --Joshua David Williams 21:03, 6 April 2007 (CDT)

Edit - I did not realize you're an editor when I wrote that. If you're busy, I could find another user to help (Eric may be able to). In answer to your question, no, it was not excluded purposely - that is, to not include it at all. --Joshua David Williams 21:06, 6 April 2007 (CDT)

what is it

Big and small-endian refer to the 'sign'-bit, in big-endian it is at the end of the byte, in small at the begin (or the other way around - I still look that up). It is used in diverse protocols to discrimninate them from others. The best known IPX/PX versus TCP/IP. It took quite some problemsolving for cisco to let these two networks communicate without problem (it gave rise to their iOS version 13 and above - created when I was on the phone with them.) Signs of bytes are of importance for the variables needed to transfer specific information. Robert Tito |  Talk  21:43, 6 April 2007 (CDT)

Should this be a separate article that deserves a mention on Byte? Remember we don't want to overwhelm the average person with too much info stuffed into the Byte article --Eric M Gearhart 04:07, 7 April 2007 (CDT)

I think it is more relevant than all the prefixes as it IS info within a Byte. Robert Tito |  Talk  09:01, 7 April 2007 (CDT)

See this jargon? That's exactly what we want to avoid. I can't make heads or tails of it. Could someone please explain this in layman's terms? --Joshua David Williams 09:47, 7 April 2007 (CDT)

big and small endians are only the way to tell the machine what the sign of the byte is: signed (+) or unsigned. Signed means only positive values are allowed. unsigned means the whole range of number space can be used. If your address space allows for file sizes up to 4 GB and you use an unsigned int to address it you CAN access that space. Using a signed variable allows you to address only 2 GB. Endian types only state where that sign is stored in the byte: the low bit or the high bit. nothing more nothing less. Some compilers use predominantly big others small endian variable. windows and unix in general use the two different styles. Robert Tito |  Talk 

bigger better?

Both LaCie and Iomega have single disk-enclosures out with disks of 1 TB below US$500. The density of the data however is that high these disks cannot be used without solid error-correction. Bigger is not always better, at most easier. Robert Tito |  Talk  09:36, 7 April 2007 (CDT)