Why do a bitwise and?

Question

There is no problem with the code I'm just curious. I have this code I'm looking at and I'm trying to figure out why they do bitwise and and not just a regular &&

bool bValid = true;
.... // some code here
bValid &= IsASMConfigurationValid(this.m_ThisDevices[BDCASM], ref el);
.... // more code here
bValid &= IsSPEConfigurationValid(this.m_ThisDevices[BDCSPE], ref el);

I just want to know why this did this instead of just setting bValid = to IsConfigValid. This could very well be just his coding style.

Answer 1

I can see some options:

• Lazyness - why type bValid again? Lets just use the &= to avoid writing it again.
• Optimization - bValid is only evaluated once (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/e669ax02.aspx)
• Randomness

Remember that there is no bitwise operation for bool operand, so its just a logical AND.

All are very personal, the best answer will come from the real developer.