const endian<big, T>* src = reinterpret_cast<const
endian<big, T>*>(buf); endian<native, T>* dst = reinterpret_cast<endian<native, T>*>(buf);
(void) copy(src, src+numTs, dst);
A call to swap_in_place() avoids the ugly reinterpret_casts and looks far simpler.
Thus far, I'm not convinced that there is any value in the endian types, but keep trying!
swap_in_place still needs a reinterpret_cast too to convert from the 'char * buf' assembled from the hypothetical TCP stream. What bugs me is that 'buf' doesn't point to a 'T' yet. It points to a half-baked 'T'. Only after one calls swap_in_place() is the object really a 'T'. The reinterpret_casts are valuable here because they show that the programmer is doing a potentially dangerous thing -- changing the memory underlying a structure in place! terry