10.2.05
22:17 0xCAFEFEED, 0xDECAFBAD, 0xDEADBEAF ... (
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Once upon a time, when people did count bits and bytes, and protocols where a long sequence of bytes (ex ASN.1) and not textual (ex XML), developers added magic byte sequences for easier debugging of protocols.
History: C was very common in those days, and a common way of representing numbers in C is hexadecimal notation (For you poor Java guys out there who never saw a hexadecimal number: "Break a byte into two groups of 4 bits each: nnnn nnnn. Each group is called a nibble. A nibble with all low bits, 0000, is equal to 0. With all of its bits turned on, 1111, a nibble has a value of 15 (8 + 4 + 2 + 1). Thus, we are dealing with the 16 values from 0 through 15, and a base of 16. Just use digits for 0 through 9, and A through F for 10 through 15" (source).
As developers are funny people, they tried to build words from the 6 available letters. Adding those words between packets of your protocols made it both easy and funny for humans to read.
Here are few words I remember: DEADBEAF, DECAFBAD, CAFEFEED.
Which other words do you know build with A, B, C, D, E and F?
posted by Jean-Marc Autexier |
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