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KeywordAbbreviationToken (hex)Version(s)Classification
NOTN{Shift+O}A81.0 to 7.0Operator (5)

 Syntax 
NOT expression
 
ParametersTypeLegal Value(s)Default ValueNote(s)
expressionFloat or Integer
-32768 to +32767
 
ReturnsTypeValue(s)Note(s)
resultInteger
-32768 to +32767
Will be -1 or 0 if expression is 0 or -1
 
 Purpose 
Evaluate a bit-wise boolean operation.

 
 Remarks 
The NOT operator is often used in logical expressions, and may be considered a logical operator.  However, this is not really the case and can have nasty consequences if you're not aware of how it actually functions.  First, if the expression is a string, a TYPE MISMATCH ERROR is generated.  Next, if the expression is floating-point then it is converted to an integer; if the result is not a legal value (see above) then ILLEGAL QUANTITY ERROR is generated.  Finally, each of the 16 bits in the integer is complemented to produce the result.
 
If the expression is 0 or -1 then the result will be -1 or 0, which is completely logical.  BASIC operators which return a boolean result always return -1 for true or 0 for false so this works well most of the time.  However, using NOT with other non-zero values (besides -1) will produce another non-zero value.  This is not logical, which is why this is more properly called a bit-wise boolean operation.  Examples are provided below, but to really understand them, you need to know how to convert a decimal number into binary (and back again).  I won't try to explain that here; you may find this web page helpful for experimenting, or use a calculator.
 
Also important to note is that logical and bit-wise negation (discussed on this page) are different (though similar) to comparison for inequality; see the less and more operators (< and >).
 
The NOT operator has a very low operator priority (5), which is less than all arithmetic and relational operators.  Its priority, however, is greater than the AND and OR bit-wise operators.  Of course the user may invoke parentheses to change the order of evaluation.
 
Boolean/Logical operators (like NOTl) are often used with IF, DO, and LOOP. 
 
Some "logical" examples:
PRINT NOT "A"

?TYPE MISMATCH ERROR
READY.
A=1 : B=2

READY.
PRINT NOT A>B
-1

READY.
PRINT NOT A<B
 0
READY.
 
Some examples about operator priority:
A=1 : B=2 : PRINT NOT A<B AND A>B
 0
 
READY.
PRINT NOT (A<B AND A>B)
-1
READY.
 
Some examples demonstrating bit-wise complement:
A=1      : REM binary 0000 0000 0000 0001

READY.
PRINT NOT A
-2       : REM binary 1111 1111 1111 1110 -- not logical!

READY.
PRINT (NOT A) AND A <>0 : REM the () are unneccessary
-2       : REM also not logical, because of NOT A

READY.
 
 Compare With 
<, >, -, XOR
 
 Contrast With 
+, =
 
 See Also 

© H2Obsession, 2014