" shift " Operator ???

[MuslimCoder]

Salamu Alaikum ala muslimeen,
Hello there!!!

I read something about the shift operator. I understood that it's faster than some of the operators in java like multiplcation, Math.pow, and division.

Would someone explain to me what the operator does? and how (if possible) you can use it in place of the other operators???

[CJSLMAN]

Here's a link that expalins a little:
Bitwise and Bit Shift Operators (The Java™ Tutorials > Learning the Java Language > Language Basics)
Some links with samples:
SCJP Tip Line - Bit Shifting
Java Notes: Bitwise Operators

In the last link there's an interesting comment:

On some older computers it was faster to use shift instead of multiply or divide.

Luck,
CJSL

[emceenugget]

also note that shifting would only be considered fast if multiplying/dividing by powers of 2. doing anything more would be impractical but would make for a nice exercise.

[Supamagier]

It is faster on any computer, unless your compiler has an optimizer. It's only a few nanoseconds though...

[MuslimCoder]

got it :)

The link from CJSLMAN helped alot!!!

[MuslimCoder]

would using a booth algorithm to create a method that multiplies using shift be faster, or slower than the multiplication operator itself???