Efficient Algorithm for Bit Reversal (from MSB->LSB to LSB->MSB) in C

Question

What is the most efficient algorithm to achieve the following:

0010 0000 => 0000 0100

The conversion is from MSB->LSB to LSB->MSB. All bits

Answer 1

// Purpose: to reverse bits in an unsigned short integer 
// Input: an unsigned short integer whose bits are to be reversed
// Output: an unsigned short integer with the reversed bits of the input one
unsigned short ReverseBits( unsigned short a )
{
     // declare and initialize number of bits in the unsigned short integer
     const char num_bits = sizeof(a) * CHAR_BIT;

     // declare and initialize bitset representation of integer a
     bitset bitset_a(a);          

     // declare and initialize bitset representation of integer b (0000000000000000)
     bitset bitset_b(0);                  

     // declare and initialize bitset representation of mask (0000000000000001)
     bitset mask(1);          

     for ( char i = 0; i < num_bits; ++i )
     {
          bitset_b = (bitset_b << 1) | bitset_a & mask;
          bitset_a >>= 1;
     }

     return (unsigned short) bitset_b.to_ulong();
}

void PrintBits( unsigned short a )
{
     // declare and initialize bitset representation of a
     bitset bitset(a);

     // print out bits
     cout << bitset << endl;
}


// Testing the functionality of the code

int main ()
{
     unsigned short a = 17, b;

     cout << "Original: "; 
     PrintBits(a);

     b = ReverseBits( a );

     cout << "Reversed: ";
     PrintBits(b);
}

// Output:
Original: 0000000000010001
Reversed: 1000100000000000