Data encoded in the bpipe
format can only have one of the predefined
datatypes (see Intrinsic Data Types). Because the data are transmitted
in binary form, there are a number of incompatibilities which may arise when
the data is read by a computer with a different CPU:
There is at least one standard for data translation which can accomodate
these differences (Sun Microsystem's XDR), but it isn't presently used
by bpipe
. Eventually bpipe
will probably use it.
Currently, bpipe
assumes that the data are in IEEE floating point format
or two's complement integer format, and that they follow big endian byte
and word order. Datum alignment is assumed to be on a byte boundary
divisible by the size of the datum. Padding between elements of
data structures is added on a per machine-basis.