Question

Can someone please tell me what do these lines of code do

*(a++)  = (int)((value >> 16) & 0xFF) ;
*(a++)  = (int)((value >> 8) & 0xFF) ;  
*(a++)  = (int)((value & 0xFF)) ;

I understand that it checks the value, if it is much greater than 16 it converts it to type int and if it is much smaller than 8 does the same. But what does the
& 0xFF and *(a++) do?

Answer 1

I understand that it checks the value

It doesn’t check anything, it’s not like the << symbol in math which means “much smaller”. To break down this line:

*(a++)  = (int)((value >> 16) & 0xFF);

• (>>) shifts value 16 times to the right
• (&) ands the result with 0xFF, thereby discarding everything to the left
• Stores the result at the address pointed by a
• Increments the pointer, making a point to some “next” element