On Thu, Sep 22, 2005 at 12:07:48PM -0400, Matt Fowles wrote: > > > Mark Biggar writes: > > > d) use a magic number that can also be used as the byte order indicator. > > I have seen architectures that swap byte ordering for 8 byte things > (like doubles) but not 4 byte things. So that gives 3 options and > requires an 8 byte magic number if you want to do it that way.
"Ordering" is at least three potentially independent variables: byte order in words, word order in dwords, and dword order in quads. Writing a quad magic number in native order thus produces eight possible eight-byte strings in 'file' databases. Seems like we're not playing to the strengths of the system that way. Worse, a quad integer can't express other variations in machine ordering that may arise, e.g. if dword order in quad integers differs from dword order in doubles. I think the right answer is to use a magic string rather than a magic number. -- Chip Salzenberg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
