// Bit manipulations is a very powerful tool just also from Zig. // Since the dawn of the computer age, numerous algorithms have been // developed that solve tasks solely by moving, setting, or logically // combining bits. // // Zig also uses direct bit manipulation in its standard library for // functions where possible. And it is often possible with calculations // based on integers. // // Often it is not easy to understand at first glance what exactly these // algorithms do when only "numbers" in memory areas change outwardly. // But it must never be forgotten that the numbers only represent the // interpretation of the bit sequences. // // Quasi the reversed case we have otherwise, namely that we represent // numbers in bit sequences. // // We remember: 1 byte = 8 bits = 11111111 = 255 decimal = FF hex. // // Zig provides all the necessary functions to change the bits inside // a variable. It is distinguished whether the bit change leads to an // overflow or not.The details are in the Zig documentation in section // 10.1 "Table of Operators". // // Here are some examples of how the bits of variables can be changed: // // const numOne: u8 = 15; // = 0000 1111 // const numTwo: u8 = 245; // = 1111 0101 // // const res1 = numOne >> 4; // = 0000 0000 - shift right // const res2 = numOne << 4; // = 1111 0000 - shift left // const res3 = numOne & numTwo; // = 0000 0101 - and // const res4 = numOne | numTwo; // = 1111 1111 - or // const res5 = numOne ^ numTwo; // = 1111 1010 - xor // // // To familiarize ourselves with bit manipulation, we start with a simple // but often underestimated function and then add other exercises in // loose order. // // The following text contains excerpts from Wikipedia. // // Swap // In computer programming, the act of swapping two variables refers to // mutually exchanging the values of the variables. Usually, this is // done with the data in memory. For example, in a program, two variables // may be defined thus (in pseudocode): // // data_item x := 1 // data_item y := 0 // // swap (x, y); // // After swap() is performed, x will contain the value 0 and y will // contain 1; their values have been exchanged. The simplest and probably // most widely used method to swap two variables is to use a third temporary // variable: // // define swap (x, y) // temp := x // x := y // y := temp // // However, with integers we can also achieve the swap function simply by // bit manipulation. To do this, the variables are mutually linked with xor // and the result is the same. const std = @import("std"); const print = std.debug.print; pub fn main() !void { // As in the example above, we use 1 and 0 as values for x and y var x: u8 = 1; var y: u8 = 0; // Now we swap the values of the two variables by doing xor on them x ^= y; y ^= x; // What must be written here? ???; print("x = {d}; y = {d}\n", .{ x, y }); } // This variable swap takes advantage of the fact that the value resulting // from the xor of two values contains both of these values. // This circumstance was (and still is) sometimes used for encryption. // Value XOR Key = Crypto. => Crypto XOR Key = Value. // Since this can be swapped arbitrarily, you can swap two variables in this way. // // For Crypto it is better not to use this, but in sorting algorithms like // Bubble Sort it works very well.