Western Governors University (WGU) ICSC3120 C952 Computer Architecture Practice Exam

In a Big Endian system, data is organized in such a way that the most significant byte, or the highest order byte, is stored at the lowest memory address. This format means that when multi-byte data types (such as integers) are stored, the most significant part of the data is placed first, followed by the less significant parts. For example, if a 32-bit integer is represented in hexadecimal as 0x12345678, it will be stored in memory as:

- Address 0: 12

- Address 1: 34

- Address 2: 56

- Address 3: 78

This organization is beneficial for systems where data is processed from the highest-value components downwards, ensuring that the most critical information is easily accessible and prioritized during data retrieval. Big Endian is one of the two major byte orderings, the other being Little Endian, which stores the least significant byte first. Understanding the way data is structured in memory is crucial for efficient programming and data manipulation in systems that adhere to this architecture.