from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
endian
<data, architecture> Suffix used in the terms {big-endian} and
{little-endian} that describe 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 also {middle-endian}, {holy wars}, {NUXI problem}, {swab}.
(2007-08-14)