Python byteorder: A Comprehensive Guide
In Python, byteorder refers to the order in which bytes are stored in memory. It is an important concept to understand, especially if you work with binary data, network programming, or serialization.
In this article, we will introduce the concept of byteorder and explain how it works in Python. We will also provide some examples to help you understand how to use byteorder in your code.
Understanding Byteorder
Byteorder refers to the order in which bytes are arranged in a series of bytes. In most modern computer architectures, bytes are arranged in either a big-endian or little-endian order.
In big-endian byteorder, the most significant byte (MSB) is stored first, and the least significant byte (LSB) is stored last. In little-endian byteorder, the least significant byte is stored first, and the most significant byte is stored last.
For example, suppose we have a four-byte integer in hexadecimal notation: 0x12345678. In big-endian byteorder, the bytes are arranged like this:
12 34 56 78
In little-endian byteorder, the bytes are arranged like this:
78 56 34 12
Python uses the system’s native byteo