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Problem: How to detect stack growth direction and platform endianess?
Solution:read

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

void stackdir(int i);
void printEndian(void);

/**
 ******************************************************************************
 *
 * Prints stack growth direction and platform endianess
 * 
 ******************************************************************************
 */
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    stackdir(10);
    printEndian();
    return(0);
}

/**
 ******************************************************************************
 *
 * Prints stack growth direction
 * 
 ******************************************************************************
 */
void stackdir(int i)
{
    int j;

    cout << "-----------------------" << endl;
    cout << "[stack direction . . .]" << endl;
    printf("param=%p, local=%p\n", &i, &j);

    if (&j < &i) {
        printf("grows down\n");
    }
    else {
        printf("grows up\n");
    }

    j=0;
}

/**
 ******************************************************************************
 *
 * Prints platform endianess 
 * 
 ******************************************************************************
 */
void printEndian()
{
    cout << "-----------------------" << endl;
    cout << "[endianess . . .]" << endl;

    int i = 1;
    char *p = reinterpret_cast<char *>(&i);

    if (p[0] == 1) {
      // Lowest address contains the least significant byte
      cout << "little endian" << endl;
    }
    else { 
      cout << "big endian" << endl;
    }
}
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