Re: A very quick, informal survey

From: Thad Smith (thadsmith_at_acm.org)
Date: 04/08/04 

Date: Thu, 08 Apr 2004 10:01:35 -0600

"Steven O." wrote:
>
> I write documentation. The company I'm working for is developing a
> product that transmits data from one computer to another, and the
> order or sequence of data transmission is important.
>
> We need to specify whether the data transmission and storage is
> Big-endian or Little-endian. I've argued that, in addition to stating
> which it is, we need to explain what these terms mean. The
> programmers claim that any programmer worth their salt will know what
> these terms mean.

While I am familiar with the term, I think it is worth defining. You
should be able to do it in one or two sentences. In fact, a graphic
presentation of the data format is very helpful.
I have seen formats which show fields, byte offsets, and MSB or LSB
designations. They make life much easier for the reader.

Be diligent, though. I can't tell you how many digital part data sheets
that I have wasted time on trying to discover which bit gets sent first
using a serial protocol. Sometimes a diagram of a serial word has an
arrow, something like

  msb lsb
  7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
  direction -->

Now, does that indicate that the byte is shifted right, sending out the
lsb first, or does it indicate a time sequencing of starting with the
msb and going to the lsb?

Moral, be bloody obvious.

> And if you are willing to share: What's your level of education
> (B.A./B.S, M.A./M.S, etc.)?
> And were your studies formally in computer science, or did you study
> some related field (math, physics) instead? Or did you study
> something totally unrelated, like history?

Unless you are publishing an academic paper in which you are trying to
NOT be too obvious, make it clear.

Thad

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