Bitwise Operations Reference

Four bitwise operations you will use constantly: AND ($\&$), OR ($|$), XOR ($\wedge$), and NOT ($\sim$). Each operates on individual bits.

AND returns 1 only when both bits are 1. OR returns 1 when at least one bit is 1. XOR returns 1 when bits differ. NOT flips all bits. Example: $1010 \& 1100 = 1000$, $1010 | 1100 = 1110$, $1010 \wedge 1100 = 0110$, $\sim 1010 = 0101$ (in 4-bit).

Shift operations: left shift ($<<$) multiplies by 2, right shift ($>>$) divides by 2 (for unsigned). $5 << 1 = 10$ (binary $101$ becomes $1010$). $10 >> 1 = 5$. These are faster than multiplication and division on most CPUs.