expert_bitwise_binary

⚙️ High-Performance Bitwise and Binary Data Manipulation

Ruby’s Integer bitwise operators plus String#pack/String#unpack let you efficiently parse or compose binary protocols and file formats. Use bitmasks and shifts to extract flags or fields, and stream data with StringIO for large payloads.

require 'stringio'

# Compose a 2-byte header: 0xA5 in first byte, flags in second
version = 0xA5
flags   = (1 << 3) | (0 << 1) | 1  # e.g., bits 3 and 0 set
header  = [version, flags].pack('C2')

# Parse back
byte1, byte2 = header.unpack('C2')
is_flag3_set = (byte2 & 0b1000) != 0

# Stream large binary blob
io = StringIO.new
io.write(header)
io.write(binary_payload)
io.rewind
while chunk = io.read(1024)
  process(chunk)
end