Bitwise operations (And, Or, Xor, shifts)

This lesson covers the basics of bitwise operations in VB.NET, with the aim of understanding how to manipulate a number bit by bit.

A bitwise operation works on a number's binary bits. And gives 1 only where both bits are 1, Or where either is, Xor where exactly one is, and << shifts the bits left.

The sample code shows the results of And, Or, and Xor on the integers 12 and 10, plus a << 2, which shifts two bits left (multiplying by four). Thinking in binary makes each operation much clearer.

A common early stumble is confusing the logical AndAlso/OrElse with the bitwise And/Or. Branching uses AndAlso/OrElse; bit-level work uses And/Or/Xor.

In professional work, bitwise operations turn up in low-level data handling — flag management (packing several settings into one number), image processing, cryptography.

📖 Reference code

Module Program
    Sub Main()
        Dim a As Integer = 12
        Dim b As Integer = 10
        Console.WriteLine(a And b)
        Console.WriteLine(a Or b)
        Console.WriteLine(a Xor b)
        Console.WriteLine(a << 2)
    End Sub
End Module

✍️ Your code

Type your code, then press "Run"

🧪 This site can't compile or run VB.NET directly, so it checks on the spot whether what you typed matches the reference code (scoring happens entirely in your browser — nothing is sent anywhere).