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Home / Glossary / XOR
Glossary · Other

XOR

Exclusive Or

In plain language

A basic operation that gives yes only when its two inputs are different.

The metaphor

Like a staircase light wired to two switches: flipping either one changes the light, and flipping both puts it back.

Going deeper

How it works

  • Two matching inputs give no, and two different inputs give yes.
  • Doing it twice with the same value returns the original.
  • That makes it a building block of many ciphers.
  • It is used inside software.
In practice
  • A cipher combines data and key with it.
  • A programmer uses it to flip bits.
  • A textbook demonstrates it with a table.

A question owners ask

Do I need to know it?

No. It matters only to programmers and people who study how encryption works.

Related terms
AIArtificial IntelligenceBASHBourne Again ShellCMSContent Management SystemDLLDynamic Link LibraryHTMLHypertext Markup LanguageIEEEInstitute of Electrical and Electronics EngineersIMInstant MessagingMLMachine Learning

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