Re: [boost] [boost::endian] Summary of discussion #1

Subject: Re: [boost] [boost::endian] Summary of discussion #1
From: Jonathan Franklin (franklin.jonathan_at_[hidden])
Date: 2010-06-04 12:25:25

On Fri, Jun 4, 2010 at 7:57 AM, vicente.botet <vicente.botet_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> For me compressed and packed are not the same. The name pack comes from the fact the integer bytes are packed. We can talk of compression of un integer that can takes values from 0 and 10000 for example. But what we say here is that we need a integer represented with 24 bits, as this is the constraint. packed is the word I have always see in this context, not compressed. Other language procide this king of packed integers.

To whit, GCC supports struct packing via the __packed__ attribute:
http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Type-Attributes.html

I'm not a linguist, but I use pack as a noun all the time.  Whenever I
feel like rock climbing, I grab my gear pack and head for the crag.

Jon