Using bitwise operators

Question

I\'ve been studying C# and ran accross some familiar ground from my old work in C++. I never understood the reason for bitwise operators in a real application. I\'ve never u

Answer 1

A couple of examples:

• Communication stacks: a header attached to data in a layer of a communication stack may contain bytes where individual bits within those bytes signify something, and so have to be masked before they can be processed. Similarly, when assembling the header in the response, individual bits will then need to be set or cleared.

• Embedded software: embedded microcontrollers can have tens or hundreds of hardware registers, in which individual bits (or collections thereof) control different functions within the chip, or indicate the status of parts of the hardware.

Incidentally, in C and C++, bitfields are not recommended where portability is important, as the order of bits in a bitfield is compiler-dependent. Using masks instead guarantees which bit(s) will be set or cleared.