Thread: Bitwise And

Code:

#include <stdio.h>

int display_binary(unsigned short number);


int main()
{
    unsigned short number;


    printf("Enter a whole number between 0 and 65,535: ");
    scanf("%hu", &number);


    printf("\n\n    Decimal: %hu\n", number);
    printf("Hexadecimal: %x\n", number);


    display_binary(number);


    getch();
    return 0;
}


int display_binary(unsigned short number)
{
    unsigned short mask = 0x8000;
    int c, k;


    for(c = 0; c < 16; c++)
    {
        k = (number & mask);
        if(k == 0)
            printf("0");
        else
            printf("1");


        mask >> 1;


        if(c == 3 || c == 7 || c == 11)
            printf(" ");
    }
}

OK, I know that I am not supposed to just blatantly ask questions for homework, but I can't seem to figure this out... Here is what I was told to do:

Hint: Declare an unsigned short mask = 0x8000 (which is 1000 0000 0000 0000). Write a for loop that iterates 16 times. In each cycle, do a bitwise & between the mask and the input parameter. Display 0 if the outcome is 0 and 1 otherwise. Shift the mask to the right one bit at the end of each cycle to retrieve the next bit in the next cycle. Display a space character after every 4 bits of data to improve readability.

My problem is, that I am getting the binary to be all "1's" for everything I put in. I think I am doing what is instructed, but obviously not.

Thanks in advance for any help,
~Alan

Code:

bitwise.c: In function ‘main’:
bitwise.c:22: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘getch’
bitwise.c: In function ‘display_binary’:
bitwise.c:48: warning: control reaches end of non-void function

getch is not portable, use getchar instead. Also, make display_binary return void, since you don't actually need to return anything.

Your problem is from the following line:

Code:

mask >> 1;

That doesn't actually do anything. That shifts mask to the right 1, but doesn't store the result anywhere, it's like saying x + 3; x doesn't change, nor mask in your case. It's causing your program to only look at the leftmost bit every time through the loop. Try:

Code:

 mask >>= 1;

Originally Posted by anduril462

Code:

bitwise.c: In function ‘main’:
bitwise.c:22: warning: implicit declaration of function ‘getch’
bitwise.c: In function ‘display_binary’:
bitwise.c:48: warning: control reaches end of non-void function

getch is not portable, use getchar instead. Also, make display_binary return void, since you don't actually need to return anything.

Your problem is from the following line:

Code:

mask >> 1;

That doesn't actually do anything. That shifts mask to the right 1, but doesn't store the result anywhere, it's like saying x + 3; x doesn't change, nor mask in your case. It's causing your program to only look at the leftmost bit every time through the loop. Try:

Code:

 mask >>= 1;

Thanks, that did it.

On a side note, what's the difference between getch and getchar? I'm not exactly sure how being 'portable' affects the outcome.

Originally Posted by Alan Gott

On a side note, what's the difference between getch and getchar? I'm not exactly sure how being 'portable' affects the outcome.

getchar() is a standard function sanctioned by the C-99 standard, getch() is not. What this means is that one cannot reasonably expect to find getch() in every compiler's library, making your source code uncompilable on some systems. For example: I use Pelles C, which has it but in a different header, so your code does not compile for me *as is*, I had to add #include <conio.h> to make it work.

Thanks! That makes sense.

Originally Posted by CommonTater

line 13... you should add some range checking here to make sure you don't get negative numbers or numbers > 65535.

Yeh, I figured that was needed. But my lab instructor frowns upon extra work. lol

Originally Posted by Alan Gott

Yeh, I figured that was needed. But my lab instructor frowns upon extra work. lol

Any teacher who would discourage initiative in his students, should not be teaching.

Originally Posted by CommonTater

Any teacher who would discourage initiative in his students, should not be teaching.

She claims that it's a waste of time since it isn't needed for the grade, it's probably because I turned my lab on switch statements from 3 to 15 cases to make it more detailed, and she has to read through everything before grading it. lol

Anyways, I have a second question. I am supposed to do this:

The 3 leftmost bits represent the command, the lowest 4bits represent the frequency, and the 8th bit from the right, represents a switch value (on /
off). Your program should also display the input number in binary to verify the extracted
information.
Example: If the input number is 41851, which is 1010 0011 0111 1011 in binary.
The command value is 101 or 5 in decimal, the frequency is 1011 or 11 in decimal, and
the 8th bit from the right is 0, which means switch is off.

The only problem is, that my function "display_binary" can't return anything (as she say's not to in the instructions), and the frequency, switch and command are supposed to be extracted and displayed from the main function.

So, I can't return the values from the display_binary function, and I can't simply display them from that function either... Any suggestions?

Extracted and displayed in the same function? If not, create new functions to get each of those values, otherwise, pass in pointers to arguments and send back the values that way:

Code:

void display_binary(unsigned short number, unsigned short *command, unsigned short *frequency, unsigned short *switch)
{
    ...
    *command = // some bitwise operations to extract the command portion
    // likewise for frequency and switch
    ...
}

Originally Posted by anduril462

Extracted and displayed in the same function? If not, create new functions to get each of those values, otherwise, pass in pointers to arguments and send back the values that way:

Code:

void display_binary(unsigned short number, unsigned short *command, unsigned short *frequency, unsigned short *switch)
{
    ...
    *command = // some bitwise operations to extract the command portion
    // likewise for frequency and switch
    ...
}

Like, after that function displays the binary I can't use it anymore. I have to somehow get the information I need while only being able to write in the main function.

Code:

int main()
{
...
display_binary(number);
//code for extracting/displaying the desired information goes here.
...
}

To extract just a set of bits, you need to first mask off the bits you don't want, using bitwise &, then shift them over so they're all the way to the right. Read this: http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial...operators.html.

Originally Posted by Alan Gott

She claims that it's a waste of time since it isn't needed for the grade, it's probably because I turned my lab on switch statements from 3 to 15 cases to make it more detailed, and she has to read through everything before grading it. lol

One has to wonder what some of these screwball teachers are thinking...
Is she teaching you how to program... or how to get good grades?

Anyways, I have a second question. I am supposed to do this:


The only problem is, that my function "display_binary" can't return anything (as she say's not to in the instructions), and the frequency, switch and command are supposed to be extracted and displayed from the main function.

So, I can't return the values from the display_binary function, and I can't simply display them from that function either... Any suggestions?

That should be no problem...
For example:

Code:

frequency = number & 0xF;  // keep only 4 lsb
// etc.

Originally Posted by anduril462

To extract just a set of bits, you need to first mask off the bits you don't want, using bitwise &, then shift them over so they're all the way to the right. Read this: Cprogramming.com - Tutorials - Bitwise Operators and Bit Manipulations in C and C++.

Wouldn't that involve doing the calculations in display_binary then return them to main? (If not, I'm totally clueless to what you are trying to teach me. :S

Originally Posted by CommonTater

That should be no problem...
For example:

Code:

frequency = number & 0xF;  // keep only 4 lsb
// etc.

Thanks! That worked wonders! Does & 0xF do exactly what I did in my display_binary function without having to loop and whatnot like I had to do?

Originally Posted by Alan Gott

Wouldn't that involve doing the calculations in display_binary then return them to main? (If not, I'm totally clueless to what you are trying to teach me. :S



Thanks! That worked wonders! Does & 0xF do exactly what I did in my display_binary function without having to loop and whatnot like I had to do?

No...

You had to do all that looping to display the binary value underlying your variable.

Bitwise and ( & ) operates directly on that underlying value.

Do a little reading on the logic functions AND OR NEG and XOR for a better insight.