I was checking out an online game physics library today and came across the ~~ operator. I know a single ~ is a bitwise NOT, would that make ~~ a NOT of a NOT, which would give back the same value, wouldn't it?
Thanks, Shane
Source: Tips4all
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It removes everything after the decimal point because the bitwise operators implicitly convert their operands to signed 32-bit integers. This works whether the operands are (floating-point) numbers or strings, and the result is a number.
ReplyDeleteIn other words, it yields:
function(x) {
if(x < 0) return Math.ceil(x);
else return Math.floor(x);
}
only if x is between -(231) and 231 - 1. Otherwise, overflow will occur and the number will "wrap around".
This may be considered useful to convert a function's string argument to a number, but both because of the possibility of overflow and that it is incorrect for use with non-integers, I would not use it that way except for "code golf" (i.e. pointlessly trimming bytes off the source code of your program at the expense of readability and robustness). I would use +x or Number(x) instead.
How this is the NOT of the NOT
The number -43.2, for example is:
-43.210 = 111111111111111111111111110101012
as a signed (two's complement) 32-bit binary number. (JavaScript ignores what is after the decimal point.) Inverting the bits gives:
NOT -4310 = 000000000000000000000000001010102 = 4210
Inverting again gives:
NOT 4210 = 111111111111111111111111110101012 = -4310
This differs from Math.floor(-43.2) in that negative numbers are rounded toward zero, not away from it. (The floor function, which would equal -44, always rounds down to the next lower integer, regardless of whether the number is positive or negative.)
The ~ seems to do -(N+1). So ~2 == -(2 + 1) == -3 If you do it again on -3 it turns it back: ~-3 == -(-3 + 1) == 2 It probably just converts a string to a number in a round-about way.
ReplyDeleteSee this thread: http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=663275
Also, more detailed info is available here: http://dreaminginjavascript.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/28/
Given ~N is -(N+1), ~~N is then -(-(N+1) + 1). Which, evidently, leads to a neat trick.
ReplyDeleteThe first ~ operator forces the operand to an integer (possibly after coercing the value to a string or a boolean), then inverts the lowest 31 bits. Officially ECMAScript numbers are all floating-point, but some numbers are implemented as 31-bit integers in the SpiderMonkey engine.
ReplyDeleteYou can use it to turn a 1-element array into an integer. Floating-points are converted according to the C rule, ie. truncation of the fractional part.
The second ~ operator then inverts the bits back, so you know that you will have an integer. This is not the same as coercing a value to boolean in a condition statement, because an empty object {} evaluates to true, whereas ~~{} evaluates to false.
js>~~"yes"
0
js>~~3
3
js>~~"yes"
0
js>~~false
0
js>~~""
0
js>~~true
1
js>~~"3"
3
js>~~{}
0
js>~~{a:2}
0
js>~~[2]
2
js>~~[2,3]
0
js>~~{toString: function() {return 4}}
4
js>~~NaN
0
js>~~[4.5]
4
js>~~5.6
5
js>~~-5.6
-5