3 ms·
Swapping bits around is operation that is essentially free in hardware. It's just wires.
by dfox 15y ago
Swapping bits around is operation that is essentially free in hardware. It's just wires.
- ableal 15y agoMost hardware is just wires. Especially since transistors shrunk down to nearly nothing. Still, the layout of something like a barrel shifter (e.g. http://www.erc.msstate.edu/mpl/distributions/scmos/images/bshift.gif http://www.erc.msstate.edu/mpl/distributions/scmos/images/bs... , from a casual search) takes its space on die, much like an adder or multiplier. It's all wires and switches.