Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also known as middle endian.
Even if its weird, its nothing like French numerals.
Can't be worse than Dutch counting!
Apple’s Bitcode Telegraphs Future CPU Plans
71–80 of 101 posts
Re: Apple’s Bitcode Telegraphs Future CPU Plans
#72When I read something like this my mind wanders and I imagine a future MacBook Pro that, instead of a single Intel processor, contains many ARM processors. 10-15 ARM processors acting as one could offer a whole lot of performance when you needed it (use all of them), and a whole lot of energy saving when you didn't (use 1 of them). With the current trend of multi-core CPUs, I see this as the ultimate form of the architecture.
Now, whether Apple will do something like this is or not is anyones guess, but its nice to dream of the possibilities. :)
Re: Apple’s Bitcode Telegraphs Future CPU Plans
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why on earth would you ever want to _return_ to big-endian?
Because big-endian matches how most humans have done it for most of history ("five hundred twenty one" is written "521" or "DXXI", not "125" or "IXXD"). Because the left-most bit in a byte is the high-order bit, so the left-most byte in a word should be the high-order byte. Because ordering two 8-character ascii strings can be done with a single 8-byte integer compare instruction (with the obvious generalizations). B…
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Re: Apple’s Bitcode Telegraphs Future CPU Plans
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
Even if its weird, its nothing like French numerals.
Aren't the only weirdness in French 70, 80 and 90? That's nothing compared to German :)
Georgian has a fun number system too - numbers between 20-90 are expressed as a multiple of 20 + a number between 1 and 19: http://blog.conjugate.cz/georgian-is-fun
Re: Apple’s Bitcode Telegraphs Future CPU Plans
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Because big-endian matches how most humans have done it for most of history ("five hundred twenty one" is written "521" or "DXXI", not "125" or "IXXD"). Actually, it is possible that that was nothing more than an accident. We use Arabic numerals, and Arabic languages are written right-to-left. Then there are languages like German where digits are read in reverse, so "42" is read as "two-and-forty".
The German "decade flip" is restricted to the tens and unit places; otherwise the order is English-like, with larger terms leading. The cardinal number systems for most major languages lead with larger terms (as in English). I don't think there's anything deep about this, it's probably an accident. And there are languages which lead with smaller terms, such as Malagasy (the national language of Madagascar). The order…
It's funny how the Germans and Dutch (rightfully) ridicule Americans for writing dates in middle-endian order like 9/11/2001, yet they say numbers with the decade flip "two and forty". That's just as ridiculous.
Re: Apple’s Bitcode Telegraphs Future CPU Plans
#76Re: Apple’s Bitcode Telegraphs Future CPU Plans
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
The German "decade flip" is restricted to the tens and unit places; otherwise the order is English-like, with larger terms leading. The cardinal number systems for most major languages lead with larger terms (as in English). I don't think there's anything deep about this, it's probably an accident. And there are languages which lead with smaller terms, such as Malagasy (the national language of Madagascar). The order…
It's funny how the Germans and Dutch (rightfully) ridicule Americans for writing dates in middle-endian order like 9/11/2001, yet they say numbers with the decade flip "two and forty". That's just as ridiculous.
MM/DD/YYYY is simply a direct transliteration of spoken English, which makes it easy to read and write dates. In other languages, the spoken version is little endian or big endian, and the written version aligns accordingly. (At least for the languages I know.)
Re: Apple’s Bitcode Telegraphs Future CPU Plans
#78I managed to ask Chris Lattner this very question at WWDC (during a moment when he wasn't surrounded by adoring crowds). "So, you're signaling a new CPU architecture?" But, "No; think more along the lines of 'adding a new multiply instruction'. By the time you're in Bitcode, you're already fairly architecture-specific" says he. My hopes for a return to big-endian are dashed. [Quotes are approximate.]
Why on earth would you ever want to _return_ to big-endian?
Graphically explained:
http://geekandpoke.typepad.com/geekandpoke/2011/09/simply-ex...
Re: Apple’s Bitcode Telegraphs Future CPU Plans
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's funny how the Germans and Dutch (rightfully) ridicule Americans for writing dates in middle-endian order like 9/11/2001, yet they say numbers with the decade flip "two and forty". That's just as ridiculous.
MM/DD/YYYY is simply a direct transliteration of spoken English, which makes it easy to read and write dates. In other languages, the spoken version is little endian or big endian, and the written version aligns accordingly. (At least for the languages I know.)
ITYM "... spoken American".
Re: Apple’s Bitcode Telegraphs Future CPU Plans
#80Earlier quoted context omitted.
The German "decade flip" is restricted to the tens and unit places; otherwise the order is English-like, with larger terms leading. The cardinal number systems for most major languages lead with larger terms (as in English). I don't think there's anything deep about this, it's probably an accident. And there are languages which lead with smaller terms, such as Malagasy (the national language of Madagascar). The order…
It's funny how the Germans and Dutch (rightfully) ridicule Americans for writing dates in middle-endian order like 9/11/2001, yet they say numbers with the decade flip "two and forty". That's just as ridiculous.
Americans read and write dates in middle endian. Germans and Dutch only read numbers with decade flip, they are written as usual. Furthermore with "two and forty" there can be no confusion since it's not "two and four", so it's clear that "forty" refers to the tens position and "two" to the units position. It is of course not ideal, but not nearly as much cause of confusion as the middle endian dates, because there's simply no way to know what 9/11/2001 means.