Welcome to this exciting lesson on Bit Manipulation Techniques in TypeScript. Bit manipulation is a powerful method used in programming to solve complex problems efficiently by examining and manipulating the binary representations of data. By using bit manipulation, we can create solutions that maintain good time and space complexity. This lesson will illustrate these techniques using TypeScript, a language that enhances robustness through static typing and type annotations, helping to catch potential errors during development.

In this lesson, you'll practice techniques such as setting and clearing bits, counting set bits, and bit masking, all with the added safety and clarity that TypeScript provides.

Let's take a look at the following example problem:

TypeScript
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1function countSetBits(n: number): number {
2    let count = 0;
3    while (n) {
4        n &= (n - 1);
5        count++;
6    }
7    return count;
8}

This function counts the number of set bits (1s) in the binary representation of a given number using TypeScript. Here, & is the bitwise AND operator. The expression n - 1 flips the least significant bit (the rightmost 1 bit in the binary representation) of n to 0, and n &= (n - 1) applies this change directly to n. The loop continues until n becomes 0, incrementing the count each time, thus tracking the number of set bits.

For example, when n = 6, which is 110 in binary:

• n - 1 becomes 5 (101 in binary);
• The bitwise AND operation 110 & 101 results in 100.

Now it's your turn to put these techniques into practice using TypeScript. The exercises will challenge you and help deepen your understanding of bit manipulation. Remember, the goal is to gain a solid grasp of the fundamentals of bit manipulation and learn how to apply this knowledge across a variety of problems, all while leveraging TypeScript’s robust static typing features. Let's get started and explore the power of TypeScript in solving problems with bit manipulation!