Groups > alt.folklore.computers > #212310

Re: Where do byte orders come from

From	John Levine <johnl@taugh.com>
Newsgroups	alt.folklore.computers
Subject	Re: Where do byte orders come from
Date	2020-07-24 15:54 +0000
Organization	Taughannock Networks
Message-ID	<rff08h$1f2i$2@gal.iecc.com> (permalink)
References	<79c7d28d-61ea-4927-bed3-2cf86e0d7911@googlegroups.com> <7e3c27ab-a45f-4e9a-9ecf-c85b868e4b0d@googlegroups.com> <349959d1-ed01-4050-b252-e4aa0aeefb11o@googlegroups.com> <0972e4a9-2307-449f-8d23-9ff404af98b3o@googlegroups.com>

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In article <0972e4a9-2307-449f-8d23-9ff404af98b3o@googlegroups.com>,
Quadibloc  <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
>While this page doesn't explain when the decision to include little-endian was 
>made, it does name the originator of the design for the PDP-11: Harold 
>McFarland.
>
>https://history-computer.com/ModernComputer/Electronic/PDP-11.html

I have been trying for many years to find out why DEC used a
little-endian byte order in the PDP-11 rather than the big-endian that
all then-existing byte addressable machine used.

So far nobody has 'fessed up, although lots of people have sent along
uninformed speculation. I know lots of reasons that DEC might have
chosen little-endian, but I don't know why they actually did.

-- 
Regards,
John Levine, johnl@taugh.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. https://jl.ly

Thread

Re: Where do byte orders come from Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2020-07-24 03:51 -0700
  Re: Where do byte orders come from Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2020-07-24 03:54 -0700
    Re: Where do byte orders come from Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2020-07-24 04:00 -0700
    Re: Where do byte orders come from John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> - 2020-07-24 15:54 +0000
      Re: Where do byte orders come from Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2020-07-24 09:23 -0700
      Re: Where do byte orders come from Gareth Evans <headstone255@yahoo.com> - 2020-07-24 17:28 +0100
        Re: Where do byte orders come from Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2020-07-24 09:56 -0700
          Re: Where do byte orders come from Radey Shouman <shouman@comcast.net> - 2020-07-24 14:08 -0400
            Re: Where do byte orders come from robin.vowels@gmail.com - 2020-07-24 17:54 -0700
            Re: Where do byte orders come from Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2020-07-25 01:57 -0700
              Re: Where do byte orders come from Gareth Evans <headstone255@yahoo.com> - 2020-07-25 11:57 +0100
                Re: Where do byte orders come from John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> - 2020-07-25 17:23 +0000
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2020-07-25 11:39 -0700
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2020-07-25 14:43 -0700
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Bob Eager <news0073@eager.cx> - 2020-07-25 22:21 +0000
                Re: Where do byte orders come from John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> - 2020-07-25 22:49 +0000
                Re: Where does PDP-11 floating point come from John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> - 2020-07-25 22:34 +0000
              Re: Where do byte orders come from Radey Shouman <shouman@comcast.net> - 2020-07-25 14:38 -0400
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2020-07-25 11:42 -0700
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Radey Shouman <shouman@comcast.net> - 2020-07-26 17:11 -0400
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Radey Shouman <shouman@comcast.net> - 2020-07-26 17:13 -0400
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Radey Shouman <shouman@comcast.net> - 2020-07-26 17:15 -0400
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2020-07-26 16:22 -0700
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2020-07-27 06:35 +0100
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2020-07-27 11:42 -0700
                Re: Where do byte orders come from JimP <solosam90@gmail.com> - 2020-07-27 13:54 -0500
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2020-07-27 00:37 -0700
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2020-07-27 09:05 +0100
                Re: Where do byte orders come from "Kerr-Mudd,John" <notsaying@127.0.0.1> - 2020-07-27 11:27 +0000
                Re: Where do byte orders come from JimP <solosam90@gmail.com> - 2020-07-27 10:27 -0500
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Rich Alderson <news@alderson.users.panix.com> - 2020-07-27 20:45 -0400
                Re: Where do byte orders come from JimP <solosam90@gmail.com> - 2020-07-28 09:24 -0500
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2020-07-28 17:30 +0000
                Re: Where do byte orders come from JimP <chucktheouch@gmail.com> - 2020-07-28 15:56 -0500
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Andy Walker <anw@cuboid.co.uk> - 2020-07-27 22:34 +0100
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Andreas Eder <a_eder_muc@web.de> - 2020-08-02 12:00 +0200
                Re: Where do byte orders come from JimP <chucktheouch@gmail.com> - 2020-08-02 14:02 -0500
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2020-08-02 15:03 -0700
                Re: Where do byte orders come from John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> - 2020-08-02 22:59 +0000
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Thomas Koenig <tkoenig@netcologne.de> - 2020-08-03 06:57 +0000
                Re: Where do byte orders come from maus <maus@dmaus.org> - 2020-08-08 22:21 +0000
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Rich Alderson <news@alderson.users.panix.com> - 2020-08-09 16:50 -0400
                Re: Where do byte orders come from maus <maus@dmaus.org> - 2020-08-10 23:07 +0000
                Re: Where do byte orders come from J. Clarke <jclarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2020-08-10 19:14 -0400
                Re: How did byte order get to horses? Dan Espen <dan1espen@gmail.com> - 2020-08-10 20:39 -0400
                Re: How did byte order get to horses? J. Clarke <jclarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2020-08-10 20:51 -0400
                Re: How did byte order get to horses? Dan Espen <dan1espen@gmail.com> - 2020-08-10 22:38 -0400
                Re: How did byte order get to horses? J. Clarke <jclarke.873638@gmail.com> - 2020-08-10 22:50 -0400
                Re: How did byte order get to horses? robin.vowels@gmail.com - 2020-08-10 20:35 -0700
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Mike Spencer <mds@bogus.nodomain.nowhere> - 2020-08-11 03:42 -0300
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2020-08-03 07:45 -0700
                Re: Where do byte orders come from JimP <chucktheouch@gmail.com> - 2020-08-03 13:45 -0500
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Rich Alderson <news@alderson.users.panix.com> - 2020-08-06 23:47 -0400
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2020-08-02 21:58 +0000
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2020-08-02 15:04 -0700
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2020-07-25 14:43 -0700
                Re: Where do byte orders come from John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> - 2020-07-25 22:35 +0000
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Joe Pfeiffer <pfeiffer@cs.nmsu.edu> - 2020-07-25 16:54 -0600
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Gareth Evans <headstone255@yahoo.com> - 2020-07-26 09:43 +0100
                Re: Where do byte orders come from Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2020-07-26 05:54 -0700
          Re: Where do byte orders come from Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2020-07-25 02:03 -0700
            Re: Where do byte orders come from Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2020-07-25 10:54 +0100
              Re: Where do byte orders come from John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> - 2020-07-25 17:25 +0000
        Re: Where do byte orders come from Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2020-07-24 10:32 -0700
          Re: Where do byte orders come from Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2020-07-24 11:45 -0700
            Re: Where do byte orders come from scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2020-07-24 19:32 +0000
              Re: Where do byte orders come from Richard Milward <rsmilward@gmail.com> - 2020-10-07 12:45 -0700
          Re: Where do byte orders come from Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2020-07-24 20:54 +0100
            Re: Where do byte orders come from Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> - 2020-07-25 01:55 -0700
          Re: Where do byte orders come from Dan Espen <dan1espen@gmail.com> - 2020-07-24 16:40 -0400
        Re: Where do byte orders come from John Levine <johnl@taugh.com> - 2020-07-24 19:30 +0000
      Re: Where do byte orders come from Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2020-07-24 21:06 +0100

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