What\'s the Key Difference Between Boolean Operators `&&`/`||` and Bitwise Operators `&`/`|` in Java?

Uncovering the Subtleties of Boolean Operators: & vs && and | vs ||

While the behavior of boolean logical operators && (Conditional-And) and || (Conditional-Or) might seem familiar, there exist counterparts, & (Bitwise-And) and | (Bitwise-Or), that warrant attention. These bitwise operators, operating on the bit-level, offer a different set of rules.

Consider the following example to grasp their functionality:

int a = 6; // Binary: 110
int b = 4; // Binary: 100

// Bitwise AND

int c = a & b;
//   110
// & 100
// -----
//   100

// Bitwise OR

int d = a | b;
//   110
// | 100
// -----
//   110

System.out.println(c); // Output: 4
System.out.println(d); // Output: 6

In this demonstration, the bitwise operators perform logical operations on each corresponding bit of the input integers, resulting in the modified values. The Bitwise-AND (&) and Bitwise-OR (|), unlike their logical counterparts, operate on the bit-level, considering the inputs as sequences of 0s and 1s.

It's important to note that the && and || operators obey a "short-circuiting" rule. This means that the evaluation of the second condition is skipped when the first condition evaluates to false or true, respectively, effectively preventing any potential errors or exceptions.

On the contrary, & and | do not exhibit this behavior. They meticulously examine every condition within the clause, evaluating all provided expressions regardless of the outcome of the preceding conditions. This distinction becomes crucial when one of the expressions might raise an exception, as seen in this example:

int a = null;

if ((a != null) & (a.something == 3)) {
    // Safe: 'a.something' will not be evaluated if 'a' is null
}

if ((a != null) & (a.something == 3)) {
    // Unsafe: 'a.something' will be evaluated even if 'a' is null, potentially raising an exception
}

By understanding these fundamental differences between boolean operators, you can harness their power effectively in your code, ensuring correct and optimized behavior.

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