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 | Using Bit Fields in Data Optimization
By Danny Kalev, C++ Pro
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Networking, file management, cryptography, data compression, and serial port communication are only a few of the application domains in which programmers need to manipulate bits directly. Fortunately, C++ enables you to do that without resorting to assembly programming or inefficient libraries, as I will show in this solution.
The smallest native datatype of C++ is char, which is equivalent to a byte. Yet in certain tasks, programs need to access individual bits of memory directly. How can it be done?
Use bit fields to manipulate individual bits in a struct or a class.
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Find Out More
• ITWorld.com: Accessing I/O Ports, Part 2
• DevX TechTip: The Size of an Enum Type
• DevX TechTip: Optimizing Member Alignment
• DevX TechTip: Use Bit Fields to Store Significant Amounts of Data Optimally
• DevX TechTip: Initializing a Bit Struct
• DevX TechTip: Member Alignment
• DevX TechTip: The First Rule of Code Optimization
• DevX C++ Zone
• All DevX 10-Minute Solutions for C/C++
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Which portion of the designing and development stages of your applications is dedicated to optimization, if at all? What is your main concern—speed or space?
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