Space complexity is the most underestimated asset by programmers. One can barely see a Memory Limit Exceed (MLE) while submitting a solution. But, saving memory is the most important thing a programmer should take care about. If one needs to create an Application for a user, it should be made as memory efficient as one can.
Boolean arrays have been used as a container to solve different problems. This article focuses on discussing the alternatives to boolean arrays.
Integer Variable as a container
In general, the Integer variable has 4 bytes (C++ taken into consideration) resulting in having 32 boolean bits to represent a number. For example, to represent 10, the boolean bits can be written as:
int a = 10
In Memory-
00000000000000000000000000001010 (Binary of 10 in 32-bit integer)
This means one can use these bits as a boolean value inside a boolean array of size 32. A 64-bit integer can be used to increase the size if needed.
How to use Integer variable as a container?
Let’s discuss in detail how to use the Integer variable as a container.
The first step is to initialize the integer variable as 0, to get the boolean container of size 32 with all bits initially false.
Set a bit to true:
Set any bit to true for any desired location by using bitwise operators such as AND, NOT, OR, and SHIFT operators. For, example, to set a bit to true at position 7-
Use shift and bitwise OR operator to make the ith bit to 1 (true)
int a = 0;
a |= (1 << 7);
Here a will become : 00000000000000000000000010000000
↑
0th bit
Step 1: First move 1 which is (..0001) in binary to 7 steps left to make it as (..10000000).
Step 2: Next, do bitwise or with the number.
Step 3: As 1 OR 0 = 1 and 1 OR 1 = 1, this will set the 7th bit to one without affecting other bits.
Set a bit to false:
For example, to reset a bit to false at position 7
Use shift and bitwise NOT and AND operator to make the ith bit to 0(false).
int a = 0;
a |= (1 << 7); // To set 7th bit
a &= ~(1 << 7); // To reset 7th bit
Step 1: First move our 1 which is (..0001) in binary to 7 steps left to make it as (..10000000).
Step 2: Invert the bits to look like (…1101111111).
Step 3: Perform AND operation with the number.
Step 4: As 1 AND 0 = 0, 0 AND 0 = 0, 1 AND 1 = 1, this will set the 7th bit to one without affecting other bits.
Get the value of ith bit:
For example, to get the value of the 7th bit-
Use AND operator to print.
int a = 0;
a |= (1<<7); // To set 7th bit
Print((a>>7)&1); // this will print 1(True)
a &= ~(1<<7); // To reset 7th bit
Print((a>>7)&1); // this will print 0(false)
Below is the implementation of the above approach:
C++
// C++ program to implement // the above approach #include<iostream> using namespace std; // Driver code int main() { // This is an integer variable // used as a container int myBoolContainer = 0; // 7th bit will be used for sample int workingBit = 7; // Setting ith bit cout << "Setting " << workingBit << "th bit to 1\n" ; myBoolContainer |= (1 << workingBit); // Printing the ith bit cout << "Value at " << workingBit << "th bit = " << ((myBoolContainer >> workingBit) & 1) << "\n\n" ; // Resetting the ith bit cout << "Resetting " << workingBit << "th bit to 0\n" ; myBoolContainer &= ~(1 << 7); // Printing the ith bit cout << "Value at " << workingBit << "th bit = " << ((myBoolContainer >> workingBit) & 1); } |
Java
// Java program to implement // the above approach import java.io.*; // Driver code class GFG { public static void main (String[] args) { // This will be the integer variable // used as boolean container int myBoolContainer = 0 ; // 7th bit will be used for sample int workingBit = 7 ; // Setting ith bit System.out.println( "Setting " + workingBit + "th bit to 1" ); myBoolContainer |= ( 1 << workingBit); // Printing the ith bit System.out.println( "Value at " + workingBit+ "th bit = " + ((myBoolContainer >> workingBit) & 1 ) + "\n" ); // Resetting the ith bit System.out.println( "Resetting " + workingBit + "th bit to 0" ); myBoolContainer &= ~( 1 << 7 ); // Printing the ith bit System.out.println( "Value at " + workingBit + "th bit = " + ((myBoolContainer >>workingBit) & 1 )); } } |
Python
# Python program to implement # the above approach # This will be the integer variable # used as boolean container myBoolContainer = 0 ; # 7th bit will be used as example workingBit = 7 ; # Setting ith bit print ( "Setting " + str (workingBit) + "th bit to 1" ); myBoolContainer | = ( 1 << workingBit); # Printing the ith bit print ( "Value at " + str (workingBit) + "th bit = " + str ((myBoolContainer >> workingBit) & 1 ) + "\n" ); # Resetting the ith bit print ( "Resetting " + str (workingBit) + "th bit to 0" ); myBoolContainer & = ~( 1 << 7 ); # Printing the ith bit print ( "Value at " + str (workingBit) + "th bit = " + str ((myBoolContainer >> workingBit) & 1 )) |
C#
//C# code for the above approach using System; public class GFG { static public void Main() { // This will be the integer variable // used as boolean container int myBoolContainer = 0; // 7th bit will be used for sample int workingBit = 7; // Setting ith bit Console.WriteLine( "Setting " + workingBit + "th bit to 1" ); myBoolContainer |= (1 << workingBit); // Printing the ith bit Console.WriteLine( "Value at " + workingBit + "th bit = " + ((myBoolContainer >> workingBit) & 1) + "\n" ); // Resetting the ith bit Console.WriteLine( "Resetting " + workingBit + "th bit to 0" ); myBoolContainer &= ~(1 << 7); // Printing the ith bit Console.WriteLine( "Value at " + workingBit + "th bit = " + ((myBoolContainer >> workingBit) & 1)); } } // This code is contributed by Potta Lokesh |
Javascript
// Javascript program to implement // the above approach // This is an integer variable // used as a container var myBoolContainer = 0; // 7th bit will be used sample var workingBit = 7; // Setting ith bit console.log( "Setting " + workingBit + "th bit to 1\n" ); myBoolContainer |= (1 << workingBit); //Printing the ith bit console.log( "Value at " + workingBit + "th bit = " + ((myBoolContainer >> workingBit) & 1) + "\n\n" ); // Resetting the ith bit console.log( "Resetting " + workingBit + "th bit to 0\n" ); myBoolContainer &= ~(1 << 7); // Printing the ith bit console.log( "Value at " + workingBit + "th bit = " + ((myBoolContainer >> workingBit) & 1)); |
Setting 7th bit to 1 Value at 7th bit = 1 Resetting 7th bit to 0 Value at 7th bit = 0
Solve Pangram Strings:
Let’s solve the problem of pangram strings using the above approach.
Approach:
It is known that English alphabets of lower case range from (a-z) are having a count of no more than 26. So, in this approach, a bool array of constant size can be used. This will optimize the space complexity of the code.
Below is the implementation of the pangram strings using a boolean array:
C++
// C++ program to implement // the above approach #include <iostream> using namespace std; bool checkIsPanagram(string sentence) { // Initializing the container int n = 0; for ( char &x:sentence) { // Checking that the char // is Alphabetic if ( isalpha (x)) // setting ith bit to 1 // if char is 'a' then this will // set 0th bit to 1 and so on n |= (1 << ( tolower (x) - 'a' )); } // decimal number for all ones in last // 26 bits in binary is 67108863 return n == 67108863; } // Driver code int main() { string s = "Pack mY box witH fIve dozen liquor jugs" ; cout << checkIsPanagram(s); } |
Java
// Java program to implement // the above approach import java.io.*; class Panagram { public boolean checkIsPanagram( String sentence) { // Initializing the container int n = 0 ; int size = sentence.length(); for ( int i = 0 ; i < size; i++) { // Storing current character // in temp variable char x = sentence.charAt(i); // checking that the char is Alphabetic if (Character.isAlphabetic(x)) { // setting ith bit to 1 // if char is 'a' then this will // set 0th bit to 1 and so on n |= ( 1 << (Character.toLowerCase(x) - 'a' )); } } // Decimal number for all ones in last // 26 bits in binary is 67108863 return (n == 67108863 ); } }; // Driver code class GFG { public static void main (String[] args) { String s = "Pack mY box witH fIve dozen liquor jugs" ; Panagram panagram = new Panagram(); System.out.println( panagram.checkIsPanagram(s)); } } |
Python
# Python program to implement # the above approach def isPanagram(sentence): # Initializing the container n = 0 for char in sentence: # Checking that the char # is Alphabetic if char.isalpha(): # setting ith bit to 1 # if char is a then this will # set 0th bit to 1 and so on n | = ( 1 << ( ord (char.lower()) - ord ( 'a' ))) # Decimal number for all ones in # last 26 bits in binary is 67108863 return n = = 67108863 sentence = "Pack mY box witH fIve dozen liquor jugs" print (isPanagram(sentence)) |
C#
// C# program to implement // the above approach using System; class Panagram { public bool checkIsPanagram( String sentence) { // Initializing the container int n = 0; int size = sentence.Length; for ( int i = 0; i < size; i++) { // Storing current character // in temp variable char x = sentence[i]; // checking that the char is Alphabetic if ( char .IsLetter(x)) { // setting ith bit to 1 // if char is 'a' then this will // set 0th bit to 1 and so on n |= (1 << ( char .ToLower(x) - 'a' )); } } // Decimal number for all ones in last // 26 bits in binary is 67108863 return (n == 67108863); } }; // Driver code public class GFG { public static void Main(String[] args) { String s = "Pack mY box witH fIve dozen liquor jugs" ; Panagram panagram = new Panagram(); Console.WriteLine( panagram.checkIsPanagram(s)); } } // This code is contributed by 29AjayKumar |
Javascript
<script> // javascript program to implement // the above approach function checkIsPanagram(sentence) { // Initializing the container var n = 0; var size = sentence.length; for ( var i = 0; i < size; i++) { // Storing current character // in temp variable var x = sentence[i]; // checking that the char is Alphabetic if (isAlphabetic(x)) { // setting ith bit to 1 // if char is 'a' then this will // set 0th bit to 1 and so on n = n | (1 << (x.charCodeAt(0)- 'a' .charCodeAt(0))); } } // Decimal number for all ones in last // 26 bits in binary is 67108863 return (n == 67108863); } function isAlphabetic(str) { return /^[a-zA-Z()]+$/.test(str); } // Driver code var s = "Pack mY box witH fIve dozen liquor jugs" ; document.write(checkIsPanagram(s)); // This code is contributed by 29AjayKumar </script> |
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