[Dev-C++] reading bytes

    I am trying to read bytes from a file.  I just read them as =
characters and interpret them, since each character takes a byte.  The =
file is a Microsoft Excel file.  However, the bytes look different that =
expected.  The first few bytes (in decimal) are:  9, 4, 6, 0, 0, 0, 16, =
0 instead of=20
9, 0, 4, 0, 2, 0, 16, 0.   Can anyone explain what is happening? =20

       My code and the Excel file format (first few bytes) may be found =
below.            Thanks, Alan

void main()
{
// Define input & output file names
  char *file =3D "test.xls";

  char c;
  int byte_no =3D 0;

  // Open input file
  ifstream input_file(file);

  // read the first byte of file
  while (input_file.get(c))
     {
      if ((byte_no >=3D 0) && (byte_no <=3D 7))
         cout << endl << "Byte " << byte_no << " is " << short(c) << =
endl;
      byte_no++;
     }

  // close input file
  input_file.close();
  system ("PAUSE");

}

Format may be found at:  =
http://www.wotsit.org/search.asp?page=3D2&s=3Ddatabase

MICROSOFT EXCEL FILE FORMAT
Microsoft Excel is a popular spreadsheet.  It uses a file format called =
BIFF (Binary
File Format).  There are many types of BIFF records.  Each has a 4 byte =
header.  The
first two bytes are an opcode that specifies the record type.  The =
second two bytes
specify record length.  Header values are stored in byte-reversed form =
(less significant
byte first).  The rest of the record is the data itself (Figure 2-1).
Figure 2-1.  BIFF record header.
                 |  Record Header    |  Record Body
Byte Number      |  0    1    2    3 |  0    1   ...
                -----------------------------------
Record Contents  | XX | XX | XX | XX | XX | XX | ...
                -----------------------------------
                | opcode   | length  | data
   =20
Each X represents a hexadecimal digit
Two X's form a byte.  The least significant (low) byte of the opcode is =
byte 0 and the
most significant (high) byte is byte 1.  Similarly, the low byte of the =
record length
field is byte 2 and the high byte is byte 3.

BOF (Beginning of File)
The first record in every spreadsheet is always of the BOF type (Figure =
2-2). =20
Figure 2-2.  BOF record.
           |  Record Header    |    Record Body    |
Byte       |  0    1    2    3 |  0    1    2    3 |
           -----------------------------------------
Contents   | 09 | 00 | 04 | 00 | 02 | 00 | 10 | 00 |
           -----------------------------------------
           | opcode  | length  | version |  file   |
           |         |         |  number |  type   |
The first two bytes, arranged with the low byte first, show that the =
opcode for BOF is
09h.  The second two bytes indicate that the record body is 4 bytes =
long.  The first two
bytes of the body are the version number (2 for the initial version of =
Excel).  The last
two bytes are the file type.  Type 10h is a worksheet file.