Bitwise operators in Dart are used to perform operations on individual bits of integer values. These operators are useful in low-level programming tasks, such as manipulating binary data, optimizing performance, or implementing specific algorithms that require bitwise calculations. Dart provides several bitwise operators, which can be applied to integers (int type).

Overview of Bitwise Operators

1. Bitwise AND (&)
2. Bitwise OR (|)
3. Bitwise XOR (^)
4. Bitwise NOT (~)
5. Left Shift (<<)
6. Right Shift (>>)
7. Unsigned Right Shift (>>>)

1. Bitwise AND (&)

• Description: The bitwise AND operator compares each bit of two integers and returns a new integer where each bit is set to 1 if both corresponding bits of the operands are 1, otherwise it is set to 0.

• Example:

void main() {
  int a = 5;  // Binary: 0101
  int b = 3;  // Binary: 0011

  int result = a & b; // Binary: 0001
  print(result); // Output: 1
}

2. Bitwise OR (|)

• Description: The bitwise OR operator compares each bit of two integers and returns a new integer where each bit is set to 1 if at least one of the corresponding bits of the operands is 1.

• Example:

void main() {
  int a = 5;  // Binary: 0101
  int b = 3;  // Binary: 0011

  int result = a | b; // Binary: 0111
  print(result); // Output: 7
}

3. Bitwise XOR (^)

• Description: The bitwise XOR (exclusive OR) operator compares each bit of two integers and returns a new integer where each bit is set to 1 if only one of the corresponding bits of the operands is 1 (i.e., they are different).

• Example:

void main() {
  int a = 5;  // Binary: 0101
  int b = 3;  // Binary: 0011

  int result = a ^ b; // Binary: 0110
  print(result); // Output: 6
}

4. Bitwise NOT (~)

• Description: The bitwise NOT operator inverts the bits of an integer, changing 1 bits to 0 and 0 bits to 1.

• Example:

void main() {
  int a = 5;  // Binary: 0101

  int result = ~a; // Binary: 1010 (Inverts bits)
  print(result); // Output: -6 (Two's complement representation)
}

5. Left Shift (<<)

• Description: The left shift operator shifts the bits of an integer to the left by a specified number of positions. It fills the rightmost bits with 0.

• Example:

void main() {
  int a = 5;  // Binary: 0101

  int result = a << 1; // Binary: 1010
  print(result); // Output: 10
}

6. Right Shift (>>)

• Description: The right shift operator shifts the bits of an integer to the right by a specified number of positions. For signed integers, it preserves the sign bit (arithmetic shift).

• Example:

void main() {
  int a = 5;  // Binary: 0101

  int result = a >> 1; // Binary: 0010
  print(result); // Output: 2
}

7. Unsigned Right Shift (>>>)

• Description: The unsigned right shift operator shifts the bits of an integer to the right by a specified number of positions, filling the leftmost bits with 0, regardless of the sign.

• Example:

void main() {
  int a = -8; // Binary representation: Two's complement

  int result = a >>> 1; // Unsigned right shift
  print(result); // Output: A positive integer (result will depend on the representation)
}

Summary of Bitwise Operators

Conclusion

Bitwise operators in Dart provide a powerful way to manipulate individual bits of integers. These operators can be extremely useful in low-level programming tasks, including performance optimization and data manipulation. Understanding how to use bitwise operators effectively is important for developers who work with binary data or require efficient algorithms.