What\'s the Difference Between Bitwise (&,|) and Boolean (&&, ||) Operators in Programming?

Boolean Operators in Programming: & vs && and | vs ||

While the boolean operators && (Conditional-And) and || (Conditional-Or) are commonly used, developers may encounter their bitwise counterparts, & and |. Understanding the differences between these operators is crucial to prevent errors and write efficient code.

Bitwise AND ( & ) and OR ( | )

Bitwise operators, & and |, perform calculations at the bit level. These operators take two binary values and apply a logical operation to each corresponding bit.

For example:

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

// Bitwise AND

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

// Bitwise OR

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

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

In this example, the bitwise AND operation (c) sets the result bit to 1 only if the corresponding bits in both a and b are 1. Hence, the result of c is 4 (100 in binary).

The bitwise OR operation (d) sets the result bit to 1 if at least one of the corresponding bits in a and b is 1. Therefore, the result of d is 6 (110 in binary).

Conditional-And ( && ) and OR ( || )

The boolean operators && and || evaluate expressions as true or false. These operators have the following behavior:

• Conditional-And ( && ): Returns true only if both expressions are true. Otherwise, it returns false.
• Conditional-Or ( || ): Returns true if at least one expression is true. Otherwise, it returns false.

Key Differences

• Bitwise operators perform bit-level operations, while boolean operators evaluate logical expressions.
• Bitwise operators examine all values in the expression, while boolean operators may short-circuit if an expression is known to be true or false.
• Bitwise operators are used for bit manipulation, while boolean operators are used for conditional evaluations.

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