Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!nntp.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Tim Rentsch Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: endian history Date: Mon, 07 Sep 2026 15:23:31 -0700 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 43 Message-ID: <86ik4gwvj0.fsf@linuxsc.com> References: <10uks4f$1dqo$1@gal.iecc.com> <10vnjp6$1df4$1@gal.iecc.com> <10vns1f$3a252$1@dont-email.me> <10vpblp$3mkd1$1@dont-email.me> <10vphh0$3o9jl$1@dont-email.me> <117gj6t$1b95v$2@dont-email.me> <6a9c1c93.39172234@news.eternal-september.org> <117h76c$1i80d$1@dont-email.me> <117hagr$1jf1n$1@dont-email.me> <117hc84$1k4o7$1@dont-email.me> <1788627455-5857@newsgrouper.org> <6a9cc83c.5722312@news.eternal-september.org> <117j391$24qgq$5@dont-email.me> <6a9db0f1.65298453@news.eternal-september.org> <1788739059-5857@newsgrouper.org> <117l0lh$2r1lf$1@dont-email.me> <117lfjn$2uuqs$1@dont-email.me> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Injection-Date: Mon, 07 Sep 2026 22:23:32 +0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; logging-data="3840042"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1/t4XIzUWFBBClTifhttnzPwQsH4knoKlQ="; posting-host="4c0e0d259045b09bdcb0088dd950681e" User-Agent: Gnus/5.11 (Gnus v5.11) Emacs/22.4 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:PQ1mC03EplJEkogo2tB/NfT7r0c= sha1:UcmXaR7Qt4oHkhOXQQI7PWnIQ30= sha256:znxMGjbBi+IsinT2tPdrsB2hjXG2zrK2FdyJhtRLhzk= sha1:LkS5jUmuiJO+l1WlL9QZLkwZQFQ= sha256:eYvSaJPAvjY6mLitJVzFxO38mIGq61OCr22brj5kPTQ= Xref: csiph.com comp.arch:117841 Stephen Fuld writes: > On 9/6/2026 5:31 PM, Stephen Fuld wrote: > >> On 9/6/2026 4:57 PM, MitchAlsup wrote: >> >>> quadibloc@invalid.com (John Savard) posted: >>> >>>> On Sun, 6 Sep 2026 07:04:02 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence >>>> =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= wrote: >>>> >>>>> Endianness has nothing to do with writing direction. >>>> >>>> Not directly. >>> >>> Humans developed 3 writing orders {Left-Right, Right->left, and >>> Top->bottom}. I wonder why nobody standardized on bottom->top ?? >> >> Perhaps it has to do with the problems it would cause when trying to >> use long scrolls. :-) >> >> But ISTM that the choice of horizontal direction is independent of >> the choice of vertical direction, thus yielding four potential >> choices. > > Sorry for the self followup, but actually eight choices. For each of > the four corners, proceed in the horizontal direction or the vertical > direction. How about, for each of the four corners, proceed in a clockwise or anti-clockwise spiral? That's eight more choices. Let's not forget residents of Lilliput in Gulliver's Travels, who wrote diagonally. And what do we do about people who want to write on Mobius strips? Where can they start when there are no corners? Pursuing this idea could help protect against overflows, where every memory location holds two 8-bit quantities, and wrap-around writes to "the other side" of a byte rather than overwriting low memory. I suppose some sort of apology is in order, but trying to write one on a Mobius strip I'm at a loss as to where to begin. ;)