Swapping Values

Yeah - I seem to be the lucky one! I get to put the first topic here.
How can you swap the values of two variables without using a third, temp variable?
A friend of mine was this in an interview!

By using exclusive or operations:

a=2;
b=3;
a = a+b; [a = 5]
b = a-b; [b = 5-3 = 2]
a = a-b; [a = 5-2 = 3]

What if the variables are float or double?
What if the variables are reference type? (I think this one's impossible in Java).
I'll skip the boolean question; too boring.

Why would these techniques be useful in some other languages?
Why are they much less useful in Java?

What if the variables are float or double?
Ravish's solution should work for all reals.

x = a ;
y = b ;
x = x + y = a + b ;
y = x - y = a + b - b = a ;
x = x - y = a + b - a = b ;
x = b ;
y = a ;

Ravish's solution should work for all reals.
Not if you want exact values. Try
double a = .1;
double b = .9;
and see what happens. And there are a few values for a and b which can completely screw things up...

x = a ;
y = b ;
x = x * y = a * b ;
y = x / y = a * b / b = a ;
x = x / y = a * b / a = b ;
x = b ;
y = a ;
there is still pitfall.

Not if you want exact values.
I see your point. I was thinking purely algebraically. You know how many times in my career that rounding errors have bit me? You'd think after so many years I'd learn. Just yesterday one of the guys came a told me, "You know that new filter program you wrote, all the elevations seem to be off a 1/16 inch after using it."

Back to XOR for FPs:

Yup, that's the one I was thinking of. Though it's rather perverse - at this point, I'm thinking let's just grab eight bytes off the stack to allocate another local variable, why all these function calls? As a puzzle, it's kind of fun; but if a customer tried to make "no local variables" a requirement, they should probably just be shot.

Incidentally, I lied about the boolean case being "too boring" - it's actually not as straightforward as I thought. But, like the solution for doubles and floats, it falls under the category of "things you'd only do in a puzzle, not the real world".
[ June 01, 2003: Message edited by: Jim Yingst ]

Originally posted by Michael Morris:
Not if you want exact values.
I see your point. I was thinking purely algebraically. You know how many times in my career that rounding errors have bit me? You'd think after so many years I'd learn. Just yesterday one of the guys came a told me, "You know that new filter program you wrote, all the elevations seem to be off a 1/16 inch after using it."

Check out the book Java Number Cruncher.

Check out the book Java Number Cruncher.
Thanks for the info Jason. I got myself into cbd.booksonline, a Computer Book club, and that is one of the selections currently available. I'll probably pick it up.

Why would these techniques be useful in some other languages?
Bit flipping (assembly) languages because it reduces the number of registers used, the number of instructions used and the number of machine cycles used.

Bit flipping (assembly) languages because it reduces the number of registers used, the number of instructions used and the number of machine cycles used.
well, I don't think so...

I don't know if it reduces the registers used(I think so but not sure),
but I don't think that it reduces the number of instructions used or the number of machine cycles used.
(1)
int a=0,b=100;
a^=b^=a^=b;
(2)
int a=0,b=100,c;
c=a; a=b; b=c;
which one is faster?? I don't think the answer is (1).

I think code(2) will be faster.
[ July 20, 2003: Message edited by: Kao-Wei Wan ]

Hi,
I've been thinking about how to swap boolean values without using helper variables but I think it is impossible to do it in a more clever way. The only way I could come up with is this:

Who can think of another way of swapping 2 booleans?

Regards,
Hans
[ August 20, 2003: Message edited by: Hans Dorst ]

How about this method. This is the best I have come up with
public void swapBoolean(boolean A, boolean B) {
System.out.println(A);
System.out.println(B);
if (A != B) {
A = A ? false : true;
B = !A;
}
System.out.println(A);
System.out.println(B);
}
[ August 20, 2003: Message edited by: Vijay Rathore ]

One more way to do it.
public void swapBoolean(boolean A, boolean B) {
System.out.println(A);
System.out.println(B);
if (A != B) {
A = B;
B = !A;
}
System.out.println(A);
System.out.println(B);
}
[ August 20, 2003: Message edited by: Vijay Rathore ]

Originally posted by Hans Dorst:
Hi,
I've been thinking about how to swap boolean values without using helper variables

How's this?
a = (a==b);
b = (a==b);
a = (a==b);

That is very clever!

wow... impressive... but is that valid??:/

----------------------------
Jignesh Malavia
How's this?
a = (a==b);
b = (a==b);
a = (a==b);
----------------------------
This is not valid. If both a and b are false, then
this sets both a and b to true.

"young indus",
Welcome to JavaRanch! We don't have many rules here at the Ranch, but one that we do have is our naming policy. Please change your display name to comply with this policy.
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Originally posted by young indus:
----------------------------
Jignesh Malavia
How's this?
a = (a==b);
b = (a==b);
a = (a==b);
----------------------------
This is not valid. If both a and b are false, then
this sets both a and b to true.

I found it to be correct (at least for both false). What am I missing?
a == false
b == false
a = (false == false) => a == true
b = (true == false) => b == false
a = (true == false) => a = false
Final result:
a == false
b == false

I found it to be correct (at least for both false). What am I missing?
Nothing; you're correct (as is Jignesh).