Question

I want to write a function named bitCount() in the file: bitcount.c that returns the number of bits in the binary representation of its unsigned integer argument.

Here is what I have so far:

#include <stdio.h>

int bitCount (unsigned int n);

int main () {
    printf ("# 1-bits in base 2 representation of %u = %d, should be 0\n",
        0, bitCount (0));
    printf ("# 1-bits in base 2 representation of %u = %d, should be 1\n",
        1, bitCount (1));
    printf ("# 1-bits in base 2 representation of %u = %d, should be 16\n",
        2863311530u, bitCount (2863311530u));
    printf ("# 1-bits in base 2 representation of %u = %d, should be 1\n",
        536870912, bitCount (536870912));
    printf ("# 1-bits in base 2 representation of %u = %d, should be 32\n",
        4294967295u, bitCount (4294967295u));
    return 0;
}

int bitCount (unsigned int n) {
    /* your code here */
}

Okay, when I just run this I get:

# 1-bits in base 2 representation of 0 = 1, should be 0
# 1-bits in base 2 representation of 1 = 56, should be 1
# 1-bits in base 2 representation of 2863311530 = 57, should be 16
# 1-bits in base 2 representation of 536870912 = 67, should be 1
# 1-bits in base 2 representation of 4294967295 = 65, should be 32

RUN SUCCESSFUL (total time: 14ms)

It doesn’t return the correct numbers of bits.

What’s the best way to return the number of bits in the binary representation of its unsigned integer argument in C?

Answer 1

 int bitCount(unsigned int n) {

    int counter = 0;
    while(n) {
        counter += n % 2;
        n >>= 1;
    }
    return counter;
 }