Bitwise AND (&) vs. Logical AND (&&): When to Use Which?

Bitwise Operators: & vs && and | vs ||

Logical operators (&&, |) and bitwise operators (&, |) are distinct in their functionality. Logical operators operate on boolean values, while bitwise operators operate on binary values (bits).

Bitwise Operators:

• Bitwise AND (&): Performs a bitwise operation on two binary values, resulting in a binary value with 1s only in positions where both inputs have 1s.
• Bitwise OR (|): Performs a bitwise operation on two binary values, resulting in a binary value with 1s in positions where either input has a 1.

Example:

Consider the following Java code:

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

// Bitwise AND
int c = a & b; // 110 & 100 = 100 (binary)

// Bitwise OR
int d = a | b; // 110 | 100 = 110 (binary)

Output:

c: 4 (decimal)
d: 6 (decimal)

Conditional Operators vs. Bitwise Operators:

When used with boolean inputs, (& and | behave almost identically to their logical counterparts (&& and ||), but with a crucial difference. The logical operators short-circuit, meaning they only evaluate the second condition if the first one is true. Conversely, the bitwise operators always evaluate both conditions.

Therefore, it's essential to use logical operators when you want to avoid evaluating subsequent conditions in certain cases, while bitwise operators are useful when you need to perform bitwise computations or manipulate binary values.

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