C – Arithmetic operators implemented using bitwise operators

A bitwise operation operates on one or more bit patterns or binary numerals at the level of their individual bits. It is a fast, primitive action directly supported by the processor, and is used to manipulate values for comparisons and calculations. On simple low-cost processors, typically, bitwise operations are substantially faster than division, several times faster than multiplication, and sometimes significantly faster than addition. While modern high-performance processors usually perform addition and multiplication as fast as bitwise operations the latter may still be optimal for overall power/performance due to lower resource use. Some bitwise operators used frequently are <<(left shift),>>(right shift),~(complement),^(xor).