Bitwise operationIn computer programming, a bitwise operation operates on a bit string, a bit array or a binary numeral (considered as a bit string) at the level of its individual bits. It is a fast and simple action, basic to the higher-level arithmetic operations and directly supported by the processor. Most architectures provide only a few high value bitwise operations, presented as two-operand instructions where the result replaces one of the input operands. On simple low-cost processors, typically, bitwise operations are su...
Find first setIn computer software and hardware, find first set (ffs) or find first one is a bit operation that returns the index or position of the least significant 'one' bit in its argument, counting from the least significant bit. A related operation is count trailing zeros (ctz) or number of trailing zeros (ntz), which counts the number of zero bits following the least significant one bit. The operation that finds the index of the most significant set bit is log base 2, so called because it computes the binary logarithm ...
Word (computer architecture)In computing, a word is a fixed-sized datum handled as the natural or historical unit of data by the instruction set or the hardware of a processor. The number of bits or digits in a word (the word size, word width, or word length) is an important characteristic of any specific processor design or computer architecture. The size of a word is reflected in many aspects of a computer's structure and operation; the majority of the registers in a processor are usually word-sized and the largest datum that can be tran...
Binary relationY indicates that the column's property is always true for the row's term (at the very left), while ✗ indicates that the property is not guaranteedin general (it might, or might not, hold). For example, that every equivalence relation is symmetric, but not necessarily antisymmetric,is indicated by Y in the "Symmetric" column and ✗ in the "Antisymmetric" column, respectively. All definitions tacitly require the homogeneous relationR{\displaystyle R} be transitive: for all a,b,c,{\displaystyle a,b,c,} if aRb{\d...Array (data structure)In computer science, an array is a data structure consisting of a collection of elements (values or variables), of the same memory size, each identified by at least one array index or key, the collection of which may be a tuple, known as an index tuple. In general, an array is a mutable and linear collection of elements with the same data type. An array is stored such that the position (memory address) of each element can be computed from its index tuple by a mathematical formula. The simplest type of data struc...Priority queueIn computer science, a priority queue is an abstract data type similar to a regular queue where each element has an associated priority determining its order of service. Priority queue serves highest priority items first. Priority values have to be instances of an ordered data type, and higher priority can be given either to the lesser or to the greater values with respect to the given order relation. For example, in the Java standard library, the PriorityQueue class considers the lowest element with respect to ...
BitThe bit is the most basic unit of information in computing and digital communication. The name is a portmanteau of binary digit. The bit represents a logical state with one of two possible values. These values are most commonly represented as 1 and 0, but other representations such as true/false, yes/no, on/off, and +/− are also widely used. The relation between these values and the physical states of the underlying storage or device is a matter of convention, and different assignments may be used even within ...
EndiannessIn computing, endianness is the order in which bytes within a word data type are transmitted over a data communication medium or addressed in computer memory, counting only byte significance compared to earliness. Endianness is primarily expressed as big-endian (BE) or little-endian (LE). Computers store information in various-sized groups of binary bits. Each group is assigned a number, called its address, that the computer uses to access that data. On most modern computers, the smallest data group with an addr...
ByteThe byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable unit of memory in many computer architectures. To disambiguate arbitrarily sized bytes from the common 8-bit definition, network protocol documents such as the Internet Protocol (RFC791) refer to an 8-bit byte as an octet. Those bits in an octet are usually counted with numberin...Bit-level parallelismBit-level parallelism is a form of parallel computing based on increasing processor word size. Increasing the word size reduces the number of instructions the processor must execute in order to perform an operation on variables whose sizes are greater than the length of the word. (For example, consider a case where an 8-bit processor must add two 16-bit integers. The processor must first add the 8 lower-order bits from each integer, then add the 8 higher-order bits, requiring two instructions to complete a singl...
Fragmentation (computing)Inefficient use of storage space In computer storage, fragmentation is a phenomenon in the computer system which involves the distribution of data into smaller pieces so that storage space, such as computer memory or a hard drive, is used inefficiently, reducing capacity or performance and often both. The exact consequences of fragmentation depend on the specific system of storage allocation in use and the particular form of fragmentation. In many cases, fragmentation leads to storage space being "wasted", and p...Set (abstract data type)In computer science, a set is an abstract data type that can store distinct values, without any particular order. It is a computer implementation of the mathematical concept of a finite set. Unlike most other collection types, rather than retrieving a specific element from a set, one typically tests a value for membership in a set. Some set data structures are designed for static or frozen sets that do not change after they are constructed. Static sets allow only query operations on their elements — such as ch...*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.