> From: Paul Koning > For some definition of "standard". ... other machines of that time or earlier > numbered bits according to the power of 2 they represent, i.e., the "current > standard".
Well, the vast majority of computers 'back then' numbered bits (and byes) from left to right - which is why in numbers in TCP and IP, the bytes go from left to right (necessitating byte swaps on most current architectures before sending a packet out into the network). The majority of computers being attached to the network when TCP/IP was being defined used that byte order (I think PDP-11's were the only exception, but I'm too lazy to check a copy of HOSTS.TXT to make sure), and so that's what we're stuck with now. So, I can see, centuries in the future, the bytes in a word on the Internet (and it _is_ capitalized) still being in an order set by long-dead computers. Kind of like how rail gauge today still mimics the width of Roman carts (yes, I know the story is only half-true, but it's not wholly wrong). Noel