Golang bits, OnesCount (Get Bitcount From Int)

Use the math bits package to implement bit counting. Count the number of bits set to 1 in a uint.

Bits. For large data sets, storing information in single bits can reduce space requirements. But accessing, and counting, this information is more complex.

In the math bits package, we find some helpful methods for bitwise operations in Go. With OnesCount we have a population count (popcnt).

OnesCount. The bits.OnesCount method performance a population count (a bitcount) on a uint. We must first cast a value like an int to a uint to use OnesCount.

Cast: For values like int and smaller data types like int16, casting to a uint will not change the bit count result.

Golang program that uses OnesCount package main import ( "math/bits" "fmt" ) func main() { value := 100 // Must cast to uint for OnesCount. result := bits.OnesCount(uint(value)) fmt.Println(result) } Output 3

UintSize, constant. How many bits are in a uint in the Go language? We can determine this number with the bits.UintSize constant.

Tip: Using this constant will help your programs be more readable. It may make them more resilient across platforms.

Golang program that uses UintSize package main import ( "math/bits" "fmt" ) func main() { // Use constant to determine bits in a uint. fmt.Println("BITS IN UINT:", bits.UintSize) } Output BITS IN UINT: 64

Display bits. We have found that a uint has 64 bits. With bitwise operators, we can display each individual bit as 1 or 0. We use a for-loop for this example.For

Tip: We find that the value 100 has 3 bits set to 1. This means the OnesCount for 100 should be 3.

Golang program that displays bits in integer package main import ( "math/bits" "fmt" ) func main() { value := uint(100) // Loop over all bits in the uint. for i := 0; i < bits.UintSize; i++ { // If there is a bit set at this position, write a 1. // ... Otherwise write a 0. if value & (1 << uint(i)) != 0 { fmt.Print("1") } else { fmt.Print("0") } } } Output 0010011000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

TrailingZeros. It is possible to loop over a uint and call TrailingZeros. This lets us iterate through set bits, ignoring bits that are not set.

Here: We continue our for-loop until our value is 0 (this means all bits have been set to 0).

TrailingZeros: This gives us index of a set bit. We can erase the bit (set it to zero) so that the next call will find the next bit.

Result: We get the indexes 2, 5 and 6 for the value 100. These are displayed with a for-loop over the bits.

Golang program that counts bits with TrailingZeros package main import ( "math/bits" "fmt" ) func main() { value := uint(100) count := 0 // Continue looping until we are zero. for value != 0 { // Use trailing zeros in our bit count method. index := bits.TrailingZeros(value) // Print the bit set at this index. fmt.Println("Bit set at:", index) // Erase the bit. value &= ^(1 << uint(index)) // Count it. count++ } fmt.Println("Count:", count) } Output Bit set at: 2 Bit set at: 5 Bit set at: 6 Count: 3

Bitwise operators. From the Go language specification, we can find a reference table of the bitwise operators available. We use a caret ("^") instead of a tilde ("~") for NOT.Go Language Specification: golang.org

Golang program that bit wiser operators & bitwise AND | bitwise OR ^ bitwise XOR &^ bit clear (AND NOT) << left shift >> right shift

Some notes. For things like bitcounts, more advanced algorithms (such as ones that use lookup tables) may have performance benefits. Bits.OnesCount is simpler to use in programs.

A review. The math bits package was not in early versions of the Golang installation. It was added in Golang 1.9. This is a useful package for low-level operations.Math

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Golang bits, OnesCount (Get Bitcount From Int)

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