What a Single uint32_t Teaches About C Types and Memory
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What a Single uint32_t Taught Me About Types, Endianness, and Alignment
The question that started this
The first time I wrote int x = 42;, I pictured a box labeled "integer," sitting somewhere in memory, holding the number 42 the way a jar holds marbles.
That mental model is useful. It's also incomplete. Your CPU doesn't store an "integer" - it stores a pattern of bits, and separately, some instruction decides to treat that pattern as a signed number. Change the instruction, and the exact same bits can mean something else entirely.
I wanted to see...
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