资料来源 : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

-endian
     
         The ordering of {bytes} in a multi-byte
        number.
     
        The term comes from Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" via the
        famous paper "On Holy Wars and a Plea for Peace" by Danny
        Cohen, USC/ISI IEN 137, 1980-04-01.
     
        The Lilliputians, being very small, had correspondingly small
        political problems.  The Big-Endian and Little-Endian parties
        debated over whether soft-boiled eggs should be opened at the
        big end or the little end.
     
        See {big-endian}, {little-endian}, {middle-endian}, {holy
        wars}, {NUXI problem}, {swab}.
     
        (1998-08-09)