Those doing parsing of network protocols will be familiar with BitConverter. For example, to read an integer that’s written in big-endian (aka network) order, one could write something like this:

Array.Reverse(buffer, offset, 4);
Console.WriteLine(BitConverter.ToInt32(buffer, offset));

If one is dealing with multiplatform code, they could even go with a slightly smarter code:

if (BitConverter.IsLittleEndian) { Array.Reverse(buffer, offset, 4); }
Console.WriteLine(BitConverter.ToInt32(buffer, offset));

However, that’s the old-style way of doing things. For a while now, .NET also offers BinaryPrimitives class in System.Buffers.Binary namespace. While this class was originally designed to be used with protocol buffers (which explains the namespace), there is no reason why you couldn’t use it anywhere else. Actually, considering how versatile the class is, I am stunned they didn’t just add it in the System namespace.

In any case, reading our 32-bit number is now as easy as:

Console.WriteLine(BinaryPrimitives.ReadInt32BigEndian(buffer));

And yes, this doesn’t accept offset argument. Boo-hoo! Just use Span and slice it.

var span = new ReadOnlySpan<byte>(buffer);
Console.WriteLine(BinaryPrimitives.ReadInt32BigEndian(span.Slice(offset)));

Much easier than remembering if you need to reverse array or not. :)