diff --git a/pkg/util/binaryReader.go b/pkg/util/binaryReader.go
index 529610f14..f13879549 100644
--- a/pkg/util/binaryReader.go
+++ b/pkg/util/binaryReader.go
@@ -12,27 +12,27 @@ type BinReader struct {
 	Err error
 }
 
-// Read reads from the underlying io.Reader
-// into the interface v in LE
-func (r *BinReader) Read(v interface{}) {
+// ReadLE reads from the underlying io.Reader
+// into the interface v in little-endian format
+func (r *BinReader) ReadLE(v interface{}) {
 	if r.Err != nil {
 		return
 	}
 	r.Err = binary.Read(r.R, binary.LittleEndian, v)
 }
 
-// ReadBigEnd reads from the underlying io.Reader
-// into the interface v in BE
-func (r *BinReader) ReadBigEnd(v interface{}) {
+// ReadBE reads from the underlying io.Reader
+// into the interface v in big-endian format
+func (r *BinReader) ReadBE(v interface{}) {
 	if r.Err != nil {
 		return
 	}
 	r.Err = binary.Read(r.R, binary.BigEndian, v)
 }
 
-//VarUint reads a variable integer from the
+// ReadVarUint reads a variable-length-encoded integer from the
 // underlying reader
-func (r *BinReader) VarUint() uint64 {
+func (r *BinReader) ReadVarUint() uint64 {
 	var b uint8
 	r.Err = binary.Read(r.R, binary.LittleEndian, &b)
 
@@ -55,17 +55,17 @@ func (r *BinReader) VarUint() uint64 {
 	return uint64(b)
 }
 
-// VarBytes reads the next set of bytes from the underlying reader.
-// VarUInt is used to determine how large that slice is
-func (r *BinReader) VarBytes() []byte {
-	n := r.VarUint()
+// ReadBytes reads the next set of bytes from the underlying reader.
+// ReadVarUInt() is used to determine how large that slice is
+func (r *BinReader) ReadBytes() []byte {
+	n := r.ReadVarUint()
 	b := make([]byte, n)
-	r.Read(b)
+	r.ReadLE(b)
 	return b
 }
 
-// VarString calls VarBytes and casts the results as a string
-func (r *BinReader) VarString() string {
-	b := r.VarBytes()
+// ReadString calls ReadBytes and casts the results as a string
+func (r *BinReader) ReadString() string {
+	b := r.ReadBytes()
 	return string(b)
 }
diff --git a/pkg/util/binaryWriter.go b/pkg/util/binaryWriter.go
index d4fa34ae6..39acf9a41 100644
--- a/pkg/util/binaryWriter.go
+++ b/pkg/util/binaryWriter.go
@@ -14,25 +14,24 @@ type BinWriter struct {
 	Err error
 }
 
-// Write writes into the underlying io.Writer from an object v in LE format
-func (w *BinWriter) Write(v interface{}) {
+// WriteLE writes into the underlying io.Writer from an object v in little-endian format
+func (w *BinWriter) WriteLE(v interface{}) {
 	if w.Err != nil {
 		return
 	}
 	w.Err = binary.Write(w.W, binary.LittleEndian, v)
 }
 
-// WriteBigEnd writes into the underlying io.Writer from an object v in BE format
-// Only used for IP and PORT. Additional method makes the default LittleEndian case clean
-func (w *BinWriter) WriteBigEnd(v interface{}) {
+// WriteBE writes into the underlying io.Writer from an object v in big-endian format
+func (w *BinWriter) WriteBE(v interface{}) {
 	if w.Err != nil {
 		return
 	}
 	w.Err = binary.Write(w.W, binary.BigEndian, v)
 }
 
-// VarUint writes a uint64 into the underlying writer
-func (w *BinWriter) VarUint(val uint64) {
+// WriteVarUint writes a uint64 into the underlying writer using variable-length encoding
+func (w *BinWriter) WriteVarUint(val uint64) {
 	if val < 0 {
 		w.Err = errors.New("value out of range")
 		return
@@ -63,13 +62,13 @@ func (w *BinWriter) VarUint(val uint64) {
 
 }
 
-// VarBytes writes a variable length byte array into the underlying io.Writer
-func (w *BinWriter) VarBytes(b []byte) {
-	w.VarUint(uint64(len(b)))
-	w.Write(b)
+// WriteBytes writes a variable length byte array into the underlying io.Writer
+func (w *BinWriter) WriteBytes(b []byte) {
+	w.WriteVarUint(uint64(len(b)))
+	w.WriteLE(b)
 }
 
-//VarString casts the string as a byte slice and calls VarBytes
-func (w *BinWriter) VarString(s string) {
-	w.VarBytes([]byte(s))
+// WriteString writes a variable length string into the underlying io.Writer
+func (w *BinWriter) WriteString(s string) {
+	w.WriteBytes([]byte(s))
 }