It would, in the worst case, not be worse than what the original poster is suggesting.
And at least in that case, the code would be more readable.
But, as the compiler knows more about what's going on (it's not just parsing and compiling a general expression with ORs and shifts) then it could well be faster (e.g. if there were a CPU instruction to do this, then it could be used, etc.).
And at least in that case, the code would be more readable.
But, as the compiler knows more about what's going on (it's not just parsing and compiling a general expression with ORs and shifts) then it could well be faster (e.g. if there were a CPU instruction to do this, then it could be used, etc.).