Programming Operators Quiz

Operators

In computer programming, an operator is a symbol or character that tells the computer to perform specific actions on operands. An operand is a value, variable, object, or data that the operator acts upon. There are several types of operators available in programming languages, each serving distinct purposes. In this section, we will discuss common types of operators, including unary postfix, unary prefix, relational, shift, arithmetic, equality, bitwise, logical, assignment, and ternary.

Unary Postfix

Unary postfix operators require one operand and operate on the operand following them. They typically involve decrementing or incrementing the value of the operand by a specified amount, often 1. Examples include the ++ and -- symbols in C++ and Java programming languages.

int x = 5;
x++; // increments x by 1

Unary Prefix

Unary prefix operators also require one operand and perform their operation before applying it to the operand. They are commonly used to negate a numerical value or reverse the sign of a number. For instance, the - symbol in C++ and Java programming languages represents a negative unary prefix operator.

int x = 5;
int y = -x; // assigns -5 to y

Relational

Relational operators compare two values to determine the relationship between them, returning true or false. These operators are used to check if certain conditions are met within a program. Some examples include equality (==), inequality (!=), less than (<), greater than (>, etc.), less than or equal to (<=), and greater than or equal to (>=).

Shift

Shift operators move bits within binary numbers. There are two types of shift operators: left shift (<<) and right shift (>>). Left shifting involves moving the bits one position to the left while appending zeros to the vacated positions. Right shifting moves the bits one position to the right while discarding the highest bit.

int num = 5;
num << 1; // shifts bits left by 1
num >> 1; // shifts bits right by 1

Arithmetic

Arithmetic operators perform mathematical operations on numeric values, such as addition (+), subtraction (-), multiplication (*), division (/), and modulus (%). Modulus operation calculates the remainder of dividing one number by another.

int a = 10;
int b = 20;

a + b; // adds 10 and 20
a - b; // subtracts 20 from 10
a * b; // multiplies 10 and 20
a / b; // divides 10 by 20
a % b; // finds remainder of 10 divided by 20

Equality

Equality operators compare the values of variables or constants and assign them to new variables based on the equality. They include the equals sign (==) and not equals sign (!=).

int a = 5;
int b = 6;

if (a == b){} // checks if a and b are equal
if (a != b){} // checks if a and b are not equal

Bitwise

Bitwise operators allow you to perform bitwise operations on numbers stored in memory. They work by comparing individual bits and performing certain operations based on those comparisons. Some common bitwise operators include the exclusive OR (^), inclusive OR (|) and AND (&) operations.

int a = 1111_0001; // 10 in decimal notation
int b = 1111_1001; // 13 in decimal notation

(a ^ b); // performs an exclusive OR operation between a and b
(a | b); // performs an inclusive OR operation between a and b
(a & b); // performs an AND operation between a and b

Logical

Logical operators are used to combine multiple conditional statements and control the flow of execution in a program. Three main logical operators are the logical AND (&), logical OR (|), and logical NOT (!) operators.

bool a = true;
bool b = false;

(a & b); // performs a logical AND operation between a and b
(a | b); // performs a logical OR operation between a and b
(!a); // performs a logical NOT operation on a

Assignment

Assignment operators are used to assign values to variables. Common assignment operators include the equals sign (=) and compound assignment operators such as +=, -=, *=, /=, and %.

int a = 5;
a += 5; // performs a += operation and assigns the result to a

Ternary

Ternary operators are shorthand for simple conditional statements. They take the form of condition ? true_expression : false_expression. If the condition is true, the value of the expression is set to true_expression; otherwise, it is set to false_expression.

int x = 5;
bool y = (x > 5) ? true : false; // sets y to true if x>5, false otherwise