I was learning about shifting and can't help but think, what's the point? Why shift left or right a number by 1 or 2 rather than just reassign the number completely?
I guess I'm looking for an explanation, esoteric origins or scenarios where this is useful.
Thank you,
Congi
The alternative to shifting would be to multiply or divide by a power of 2. However, when one is dealing with bits, it may be conceptually easier to do bit shifting instead of multiplying or dividing by a power of 2 (even if the end result after optimisations applied by the compiler is the same). As for why one might deal with bits: perhaps one wants to store boolean values in a bitset.
Look up a C++ Reference and learn How To Ask Questions The Smart WayOriginally Posted by Bjarne Stroustrup (2000-10-14)
