How to convert 32 bit integer to network byte order?

Question

How to convert the 32 bit integer to network byte order.

What is the right way to do that?

[1024].pack("N")

OR

[1,0,2,4].pack("N")

Thanks

Answer 1

To start, look at the output of each:

>> [1024].pack("N")
=> "\000\000\004\000"
>> [1,0,2,4].pack("N")
=> "\000\000\000\001"

Note what the second is missing:

>> [1,0,2,4].pack("NNNN")
=> "\000\000\000\001\000\000\000\000\000\000\000\002\000\000\000\004"