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Glite Dictionary
bit field

bit field

6.2
A place in computer memory that holds several on and off values for settings
  • noun
  • /bɪt fiːld/
  • Specialized
translation icon : campo de bits
  • The program uses a bit field to compactly represent boolean flags for each option selected by the user.

Examples

  • Contiguous sequences of C or C++ bit fields, however, normally share a single location; updating one potentially interferes with the others.

    Academic text (2012)

  • This 10-bit field is used for decoding all instructions for execution.

    Academic text (1994)

  • So here we're trying to extract a bit field from a word X.

  • So the, the bit field thing was kind of an interesting way where, OK, it's O of N, but one bit per object and you can sort of quickly sort between them.

  • In computer science, a bit field can store multiple values efficiently by using bits to represent each value.

  • When analyzing the data, we utilized a bit field to identify the active settings in the configuration.

How Big

word
  • Specialized
37 9.3
bit field
  • Specialized
6.2
byte
  • Specialized
23 3.6
nibble
  • Specialized
8.6
bit
  • Specialized
106 4.4

Surface Forms

bit field singular
bit fields plural

Morphology

bit + field

The meaning is a straightforward composition of 'bit' (binary digit) and 'field' (a defined data area or space): a field composed of bits. Although technical, the semantic combination is literal and predictable, so a learner who knows both constituent senses can infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Bit field comes from joining bit (a very small piece of information) and field (an area that holds things). Imagine a field of tiny boxes where each box is either '0' or '1' — a bit field is that area of many bits used to store several small values next to each other.