UNIX C Programming

Chapter 15: Bit Fiddling

Objectives:

This chapter introduces the bit operators and bit fields, and provides a review of decimal, binary, octal, and hexadecimal notation. The teaching objectives important to this material include:

• Review decimal, binary, octal, and hexadecimal notation
• Explain the six bitwise operators and show how they work
• Explain the bitwise assignment operators
• Discuss the use of masks and why they are placed in C programs
• Compare bit fields to other types of structures

Concepts:

With C, you can manipulate the individual bits in a variable.

Decimal numbers are written in base 10, while binary numbers are written in base 2. Octal numbers are written in base 8; hexadecimal numbers are written in base 16.

A byte consists of 8 bits, with bit positions 0 to 7. Bit position 0 represents the low-order bit. Bit position 7 represents the high-order bit.

The largest binary number that can be stored in an 8-bit byte is 255, which means one byte can represent 256 numbers (including zero). A signed int, can store numbers in the range -128 to +127, when the two's-complement method uses the 7th bit position to indicate positive or negative.

The one's complement method forms the negative of a number by inverting each bit in the pattern.

Binary fractions require two parts: a binary fraction and a binary exponent.

The six bitwise operators and their meaning are:

Operator	Meaning
One's complement (~)	Changes each 1 to a 0 and each 0 to a 1 in a bit pattern.
Bitwise AND (&)	Adds bits if the corresponding bits in the two operands are 1.
Bitwise OR (/)	Adds bits if either of the corresponding bits in the two operands are 1.
Bitwise EXCLUSIVE OR (^)	Adds bits if one but not both of the corresponding bits in the two operands are 1.
Left Shift (<<)	Shifts the bits of the value of the left operand to the left by the number of places given by the right operand.
Right Shift (>>)	Shifts the bits of the value of the left operand to the right by the number of places given by the right operand.

Besides the bitwise operators, the five bitwise assignment operators are:

&= 	|= 	^= 	>>= 	<<=

The usage of bitwise operators are several and include:

1. The use of the bitwise AND operator and a mask (where a mask is a bit pattern with some bits that are set to ON (1) and some bits to OFF (0)).
2. The use of the bitwise OR operator to turn bits on.
3. The use of the bitwise AND and the one's complement operator to turn bits off.
4. The use of the bitwise EXCLUSIVE OR to toggle bits on and off.
5. The use of the bitwise AND operator to check the value of a bit.

The formulas to remember for the bitwise shift operators are:

number << n 
Multiplies number by 2 to the nth power

number >> n 
Divides number by 2 to the nth power, 
if number is not negative

A bit field is just a set of neighboring bits within an unsigned int, set up with a structure definition that labels each field and determines its width. The structure:

	struct {
	unsigned code1 : 2;
	unsigned code2 : 2;
	unsigned code3 : 8;
	} prcode;

creates two 2-bit fields and one 8-bit field.

Bit fields assist C programs in dealing with hardware matters. They often appear in implementation-dependent contexts.