A flag word is a generic term for a word (value) used to indicate conditions within a binary computer. In particular, the byte can be used to show up to 8 discrete conditions. Essentially, each bit represents one flag, capable of showing two states.
A flag word can be seen as a bit array with a short, constant length.
Read more about Flag Word: Extracting Bits From Flag Words, Changing Bits in Flag Words
Famous quotes containing the words flag and/or word:
“There’s an enduring American compulsion to be on the side of the angels. Expediency alone has never been an adequate American reason for doing anything. When actions are judged, they go before the bar of God, where Mom and the Flag closely flank His presence.”
—Jonathan Raban (b. 1942)
“Out in Hollywood, where the streets are paved with Goldwyn, the word “sophisticate” means, very simply, “obscene.” A sophisticated story is a dirty story. Some of that meaning was wafted eastward and got itself mixed up into the present definition. So that a “sophisticate” means: one who dwells in a tower made of a DuPont substitute for ivory and holds a glass of flat champagne in one hand and an album of dirty post cards in the other.”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)