With PGP for example, the "properties" of the following key are:
pub rsa3072/2BD6571B 2022-06-03 [SC] [expires: 2024-06-02]
6713B62DC36CE36403C724B1FFD641CF2BD6571B
uid [ultimate] [email protected]
sub rsa3072/10E0C323 2022-06-03 [E]
---
fingerprint 6713B62DC36CE36403C724B1FFD641CF2BD6571B
ID (long) FFD641CF2BD6571B
ID (short) 2BD6571B
I find this very counter-intuitive, as everything of the output of GPG is meant to be read from left to right - except for the hash. Taking the last digits of the hash makes it very hard to compare a long ID and a fingerprint, for example: one needs to read from right to left or try to spot the beginning of the ID within the fingerprint and then read starting from there.
Why is it that way?
The fingerprint is a cryptographic hash, so the first bytes should be just as unpredictable as the last bytes. Therefore, the first 4 (/8) bytes of it could be used as the key ID just as well, couldn't they?
I assume this to be some kind of endianness issue, but it still seems weird to me that some architecture peculiarity would justify such a confusing default in a case where clarity means security.