Static field component in virtual machine spec

Question

Hello.
I can’t understand some point in JavaCard Virtual Machine Specification v2.2.2.
Section: 6.10 Static Field Component. See table 6-14. segment 4 – it describe “primitive types initialized to non-default values”. It is describes by two parameters : non_default_value_count, non_default_values[].non_default_values – is image of all static primitive fields independence of it type – byte, short, int. This image consist from data in big-endian order.
How I can use it at architecture with little-endian order?
I can’t parse where short or int – I can’t convert it. How I can do it?

Answer 1

As you pointed out it is not known from the CAP file format where single short or int values begin. At access time you know where the value starts and of which type it is. Therefore it looks like you have no choice but to convert the value at every access from or to big endian.
This is from a design perspective definitely not nice regarding the VM design but I don't think the performance penalty is too costly.