CPU Architecture & Portability

Module 1 – CPU Architecture & Portability · 1

Page 3 of 3 · About 15 minutes per lesson, including practice.

Endianness is a byte-order rule

15-minute session: read for 3 minutes, trace for 3, experiment for 7, and complete the check for 2. Spend longer whenever you need.

The number 0x1234 can be stored as bytes 34 12 in little-endian order or 12 34 in big-endian order. The number is unchanged; the representation changes. Run both conversions and decode them back. A file or network protocol must specify byte order instead of copying a host struct blindly. C struct padding and alignment are separate concerns.

value=0x1234
print(value.to_bytes(2,"little").hex())
print(value.to_bytes(2,"big").hex())

Expected result: 3412 1234

Practice and evidence

Keep three notes: your prediction, the actual result, and why they match or differ. The completion check grades understanding; the practice task builds skill.

Language reference: www.intel.com

Language reference: developer.arm.com

Language reference: docs.riscv.org

Example code on Agila Forge ↗