byte order and bit order

[Silver]

This is where the internet's `network ordering' conventions really come in
handy.  Non-local i/o is assumed to be with a device that formats this
low-level stuff in the `standard' network format.  Data read from such a source
must be converted to conform to local conventions with a function (or macro, as
the case may be); data so written must be converted to network formats the same
way.

Just my two bits, [Ag] gaynor at topaz.rutgers.edu