On a little-endian machine, the value 98765432 would be stored in memory as follows:

Address:     0       1       2       3
---------------------------------------
Value:    32      54      76      98
On a big-endian machine, the value 98765432 would be stored in memory as follows:

Address:     0       1       2       3
---------------------------------------
Value:    98      76      54      32

• The term "endian-ness" refers to the order in which bytes are stored in multi-byte data types, such as words or integers. It determines how the bytes within a word are arranged in memory. Endianness matters because it affects how data is interpreted and accessed by different systems or processors.
• In a little-endian system, the least significant byte (LSB) is stored at the lowest memory address, while the most significant byte (MSB) is stored at the highest memory address. This format is often compared to writing numbers from right to left, with the least significant digits coming first. Little-endian representation is used by x86-based processors, among others.
• In a big-endian system, the most significant byte (MSB) is stored at the lowest memory address, while the least significant byte (LSB) is stored at the highest memory address. This format is akin to writing numbers from left to right, with the most significant digits coming first. Big-endian representation is used by some processors, such as PowerPC and SPARC.
• The choice of endianness affects how data is stored, communicated, and interpreted between different systems. It becomes crucial when data needs to be exchanged or shared between systems with different endianness. If the endianness is not considered properly, data may be misinterpreted, resulting in incorrect values or unexpected behavior.
• For example, when transferring multi-byte data over a network or reading binary files created on a system with different endianness, the receiver needs to be aware of the endianness and perform appropriate byte swapping if necessary to ensure correct interpretation of the data.

Therefore, understanding and accounting for endianness is essential in ensuring proper data handling and compatibility when working with systems or protocols that may have different byte order conventions.