little-endian
<data, architecture> A computer architecture in which, within a given 16-
or 32-bit word, bytes at lower addresses have lower significance (the word is
stored "little-end-first"). The PDP-11 and VAX families of computers and Intel
microprocessors and a lot of communications and networking hardware are
little-endian.
The term is sometimes used to describe the ordering of units other than bytes;
most often, bits within a byte.
Compare big-endian, middle-endian. See NUXI problem.
[Jargon File]
(1995-08-16)
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