A bit field is a common idiom used in computer programming to store multiple, logical, neighboring bits, where each of the sets of bits, and single bits can be addressed. A bit field is most commonly used to represent integral types of known, fixed bit-width. A well-known usage of bit-fields is to represent a set of bits, and/or series of bits, known as flags. For example, the first bit in a bit field can be used to determine the state of a particular attribute associated with the bit field.
A bit field is distinguished from a bit array in that the latter is used to store a large set of bits indexed by integers and is often wider than any integral type supported by the language. Bit fields, on the other hand, typically fit within a machine word, and the denotation of bits is independent of their numerical index.
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Famous quotes containing the words bit and/or field:
“A slight digression: that bit about my mother was a deliberate lie. In reality, she was a woman of the people, simple and coarse, sordidly dressed in a kind of blouse hanging loose at the waist. I could, of course, have crossed it out, but I purposely leave it there as a sample of one of my essential traits: my light-hearted, inspired lying.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“He stung me first and stung me afterward.
He rolled me off the field head over heels
And would not listen to my explanations.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)