I'm working on a library that supports file reading, and right now I've always assumed that all the bytes are written in most significant bit first format. Is the least significant bit first format ever practically used anywhere today on any platform? The library I'm writing isn't targeted at older operating systems (ideally anything onwards from the year 2000).
I'm curious if writing such a feature in might be a waste of time that could be spent on other things.
Best Answer
Well, you might have heard of a little thing called Ethernet, which transmits most-significant byte first, but least-significant bit first.
The thing is, no one cares unless they happen to be designing an Ethernet card, because the card's hardware packs the data into bytes, which is how it's accessed everywhere else in the system.
So if your library happens to be designed to run directly on a disk drive controller chip, and you have to read data written by other controllers following their own standards, by all means include the option. Anywhere else, it doesn't matter.