EndiannessEndianness

Endianness refers to the order in which bytes are stored and read in a computer's memory.

To understand it, imagine reading directions in different languages: while English text flows from left to right, Arabic Hex flows from right to left.

Similarly, computers have two ways to store data:

1. Big-endian (BE): Most significant byte first
2. Little-endian (LE): Least significant byte first

1. Big-Endian1. Big-Endian

Big-endian stores the most significant byte first. This is similar to how humans read numbers and Hex in most cases: starting with the most important information.

Example: Storing the number 12345678 (hexadecimal: 0x00BC614E) in memory:

• Big-endian order: 00 BC 61 4E
• Most significant byte (00) is at the lowest memory address.
• Least significant byte (4E) is at the highest address.

Big-endian is considered more "human-readable" because the data is stored in the order we naturally read it.

2. Little-Endian2. Little-Endian

Little-endian stores the least significant byte first. While counterintuitive to humans, it's more efficient for modern processors.

Example: Storing the number 12345678 (0x00BC614E) in memory:

• Little-endian order: 4E 61 BC 00
• Least significant byte (4E) is at the lowest memory address.
• Most significant byte (00) is at the highest address.

This "reversal" is common in Bitcoin's internal data representation.

3. Endianness in Bitcoin3. Endianness in Bitcoin

Bitcoin primarily uses little-endian for storing data like ...

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