Ruby-based implementation of the bit array data structure.

It implements simple and well-optimized logic allowing you to set, unset and retrieve bits (as well as some extra features, see below).

Install the gem and add to the application's Gemfile by executing:

$ bundle add bitary

If bundler is not being used to manage dependencies, install the gem by executing:

$ gem install bitary

Here is a breakdown of the main capabilities brought by the current implementation:

require 'bitary'

bit_array_sz = Bitary.new(128) # give an explicit size. Defaults to 64 bits used per item
bit_array_ar = Bitary.new(
  bytes: [255, 10, 20],
  bpi: Bitary::BYTE # 8 bits
) # create based on some integer array

bit_array_sz.bpi # 64
bit_array_ar.bpi # 8

bit_array_ar.bits # 128
bit_array_ar.bits # 24

# set/unset/get
bit_array_sz[23] = 1 # set bit at position 23 (0-indexed)
bit_array_sz[23] # 1
bit_array_sz[32] # 0

bit_array_ar[0] # 1
bit_array_ar[0] = 0 # unset bit at position 0 (0-indexed)
bit_array_ar[0] # 0

# traverse
bit_array_sz.each_byte do |byte|
  # do something with each byte
end

# convert
bit_array_ar.to_a # [127, 10, 20]
bit_array_ar.to_s # "01111111 00001010 00010100"

# increase/decrease bits used per item
bit_array_ar.bpi = Bitary::LONG # 64 bits
bit_array_ar.to_a # [9154151182816509952]
bit_array_ar.to_s # "0111111100001010000101000000000000000000000000000000000000000000"

bit_array_sz.bpi # 64
bit_array_sz.to_a # [1_099_511_627_776, 0]
bit_array_sz.bpi = Bitary::INT # 32 bits
bit_array_sz.to_a # [256, 0, 0, 0]

After checking out the repo, run bin/setup to install dependencies. Then, run rake spec to run the tests and rake rubocop to lint your code. You can also run bin/console for an interactive prompt that will allow you to experiment.

To install this gem onto your local machine, run bundle exec rake install. To release a new version, update the version number in version.rb, and then run bundle exec rake release, which will create a git tag for the version, push git commits and the created tag, and push the .gem file to rubygems.org.

Access the technical documentation in HTML format by issuing:

$ bundle exec yardoc # or simply yardoc if bundler is not being used

The YARD documentation will be generated under /doc.

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/Patacode/bitary.

The gem is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.