`to_bits` and `of_bits` for big endian ordering about zarith HOT 2 CLOSED

In a hurry, you can always use the following OCaml function to change the byte ordering:

let string_reverse s =
    let l = String.length s in
    String.init l (fun i -> s.[l-1-i])

let z_to_bits_bigendian n = string_reverse (Z.to_bits n)
let z_of_bits_bigendian s = Z.of_bits (string_reverse s)

Nowadays, all popular processor architectures are little-endian (e.g. x86 and ARM), so protocols that insist on using big-endian representations are annoying.

Internally, GMP stores bignums least-significant-limb first. It's just a few of GMP's conversion functions that use big-endian representation.

from zarith.

Internally, GMP stores bignums least-significant-limb first. It's just a few of GMP's conversion functions that use big-endian representation.

Ok. In that case maybe it does not makes sense to include a big-endian to_bits/of_bits. Byte-swapping in OCaml will do.

Thank you for your response. Closing this issue.

from zarith.