Bit shifting
Bit shifting is a bitwise operation that moves the positions of an integer’s binary digits left or right by a specified count.
100 Java Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
A bitwise shift operator moves the binary representation of an integer left or right by a specified number of bit positions.
- How it is used
- Uses shifts for packing values, masks, flags, and compact bit-vector manipulation.
- How deep it goes
- Explains precedence, modulo shift counts, result typing, and concrete masking corner cases.
- Examples
- Uses value packing, a handwritten hashCode, buffer sizing, a least-significant-bit mask, and a long field bit setter.
- What you can do after
- Diagnose/debug with it by checking grouping, shift-count boundaries, and left-operand types in Java expressions.
Read how 100 Java Mistakes and How to Avoid Them explains bit shifting →
Modern C
A shift operation is a C bitwise operation that moves the bits of an integer representation left or right by a specified operand.
- How it is used
- Uses unsigned shifts to move through bit sets, specify powers of two, and build enumeration masks.
- How deep it goes
- Explains bit movement, arithmetic correspondence, discarded bits, precision constraints, and signedness, without resolving negative signed shifts.
- Examples
- Works through A = 240, overflowed left shifts, right-shift remainders, and named enumeration masks.
- What you can do after
- Apply it via C shift operators to calculate powers of two, manipulate bit sets, and define flag masks.
Related concepts
- plus operatorcontrasts with · The plus operator is a language-defined operation, commonly performing numeric addition, string concatenation, or collection combination according to operand types.
- precisionconfigured by · Numerical precision is the fineness with which a numerical representation or computation distinguishes and retains values.
- operatorkind of · An operator is a symbol, keyword, or language construct that specifies an operation on one or more operands.
- right-shift operationincludes · A bitwise operation that moves an integer’s bits toward less-significant positions, with vacated and shifted-out bits handled according to the operation’s semantics.
- left-shift operationincludes · A left-shift operation moves an integer’s bits toward more-significant positions by a specified number of places, handling discarded bits according to the operation’s semantics.
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