ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Bit manipulation instruction set

Okay kiddo, let me explain bit manipulation instruction set to you like you're five.

So, you know that computers understand only two numbers, 0 and 1. These are called binary digits or bits. And, just like how you can count from 0 to 9, computers can count from 0 to 1 but using only these two numbers, 0 and 1.

Now, there are some special instructions that your computer can use to play with bits or change them in a certain way. This is called bit manipulation instruction set. It's like playing with Lego blocks where you can arrange them in different ways to make different shapes.

In bit manipulation, you can perform different operations on bits such as AND, OR, NOT and XOR. These operations help you to change the values of the bits and create new numbers.

For example, if you have two numbers, 10 and 11, you can use the AND operation to get a new number where only the common bits are set, which is 10. Similarly, you can use the OR operation to get a new number where all the set bits of both numbers are combined, which is 11.

These operations are used in coding to perform various tasks such as setting or clearing specific bits in a number, checking if a certain bit is set or not, and so on.

Overall, bit manipulation instruction set is a way for the computer to play around with bits and change them in different ways to do cool things. Argh, matey!