I just compiled two identical program , one with "!=" and other with "^". The assembly output is identical.To confuse you, coders with assembly or hardware background throw in
I doubt that. I'm good enough assembly to see this :)
equivalent bit operations to succinctly describe their visualisation of solution space... Perhaps the writer _wanted_ you to pause and think? Maybe the compiler produces better code? Try it and see.
It produces a simple CMP. Should not be inefficient, though.
Jan Engelhardt