Hi!

We are here with Stef looking at the calcEndianess method which introduces a dependency to Form and BitBlt from SmalltalkImage.

bytes := #[0 0 0 0]. ��"(1 2 3 4) or (4 3 2 1)"

word := WordArray with: 16r01020304.

blt := (BitBlt toForm: (Form new hackBits: bytes))��

sourceForm: (Form new hackBits: word).

blt combinationRule: Form over. ��"store"

blt sourceY: 0; destY: 0; height: 1; width: 4.

blt sourceX: 0; destX: 0.

blt copyBits. ��"paste the word into the bytes"

bytes first = 1 ifTrue: [^ #big].

bytes first = 4 ifTrue: [^ #little].

self error: 'Ted is confused'.

Is that code really useful? I mean, usually all machines are little endian now, aren't they?

And in case big endianess comes back, shouldn't be easier and cheaper to do it with just a primitive? It will be much less code than using BitBlt and Form and some calculations, and simpler, and it looks like the responsibility of the VM to know that...

Guille