The binary operators AND (&), OR (inclusive OR, |) and XOR
(exclusive OR, also called EOR, ^) perform comparisons, or
masking operations, between two bit strings. They are also binary
operators in the sense that they take two operands. There is another
operator called NOT (~) that is a unary operator; it takes only
one operand.
These bitwise operations are best summarized by truth tables.
Each truth table for a binary operator (that is, one with two operands),
indicates what the result of the operation is for every possible
combination of two bits.
