A byte ordering of either big-endian or little-endian supported by a processor.
(Byte)
1
2
3
0x1A2B3C4D
1A
2B
3C
4D
Big
4D
3C
2B
1A
Little
Note that the byte is endianless; that is, whether it is big-endian or little-endian, the MSB (most significant bit) is bit #7 and the LSB (least significant bit) is bit #0.
big-endian
The byte ordering typically used by large mainframes. For purposes of this book, that would include the EE, VU, PowerPC-AltiVec, and PowerPC-Gekko processors.
1
2
3
0x1A2B3C4D
1A
2B
3C
4D
blit
The process of transferring one or more blocks of data. The etymology of the word is Bacon, Lettuce, and Interactive Tomato.
branch prediction
A methodology used by a processor to predict at a conditional jump whether an instruction branch will be taken or not.