constexpr and endianness

Question

A common question that comes up from time to time in the world of C++ programming is compile-time determination of endianness. Usually this is done with barely portable #if

Answer 1

My first post. Just wanted to share some code that I'm using.

//Some handy defines magic, thanks overflow
#define IS_LITTLE_ENDIAN  ('ABCD'==0x41424344UL) //41 42 43 44 = 'ABCD' hex ASCII code
#define IS_BIG_ENDIAN     ('ABCD'==0x44434241UL) //44 43 42 41 = 'DCBA' hex ASCII code
#define IS_UNKNOWN_ENDIAN (IS_LITTLE_ENDIAN == IS_BIG_ENDIAN)

//Next in code...
struct Quad
{
    union
    {
#if IS_LITTLE_ENDIAN
        struct { std::uint8_t b0, b1, b2, b3; };

#elif IS_BIG_ENDIAN
        struct { std::uint8_t b3, b2, b1, b0; };

#elif IS_UNKNOWN_ENDIAN
#error "Endianness not implemented!"
#endif

        std::uint32_t dword;
    };
};

Constexpr version:

namespace Endian
{
    namespace Impl //Private
    {
        //41 42 43 44 = 'ABCD' hex ASCII code
        static constexpr std::uint32_t LITTLE_{ 0x41424344u };

        //44 43 42 41 = 'DCBA' hex ASCII code
        static constexpr std::uint32_t BIG_{ 0x44434241u };

        //Converts chars to uint32 on current platform
        static constexpr std::uint32_t NATIVE_{ 'ABCD' };
    }



    //Public
    enum class Type : size_t { UNKNOWN, LITTLE, BIG };

    //Compare
    static constexpr bool IS_LITTLE   = Impl::NATIVE_ == Impl::LITTLE_;
    static constexpr bool IS_BIG      = Impl::NATIVE_ == Impl::BIG_;
    static constexpr bool IS_UNKNOWN  = IS_LITTLE == IS_BIG;

    //Endian type on current platform
    static constexpr Type NATIVE_TYPE = IS_LITTLE ? Type::LITTLE : IS_BIG ? Type::BIG : Type::UNKNOWN;



    //Uncomment for test. 
    //static_assert(!IS_LITTLE, "This platform has little endian.");
    //static_assert(!IS_BIG_ENDIAN, "This platform has big endian.");
    //static_assert(!IS_UNKNOWN, "Error: Unsupported endian!");
}