In the go source code, the constant bucketCnt is 8. Why is defined in terms of right-shifting 3 times instead of just defining it as 8. I understand that 1 << x implies 2^x.
But, my question is...
Is
// Maximum number of key/value pairs a bucket can hold.
bucketCntBits = 3
bucketCnt = 1 << bucketCntBits
better than
// Maximum number of key/value pairs a bucket can hold.
bucketCnt = 8
const ( // Maximum number of key/value pairs a bucket can hold. bucketCntBits = 3 bucketCnt = 1 << bucketCntBits )
The number of key/value pairs a bucket can hold depends on the number of bits used (bucketCntBits = 3). That translates to a bucket count (bucketCnt) of 1 << bucketCntBits or 8. If we change the number of bits to 4 (bucketCntBits = 4) or 2 (bucketCntBits = 2) then bucketCnt is still 1 << bucketCntBits or 16 or 4.
// A map is just a hash table. The data is arranged // into an array of buckets. Each bucket contains up to // 8 key/value pairs. The low-order bits of the hash are // used to select a bucket. Each bucket contains a few // high-order bits of each hash to distinguish the entries // within a single bucket.
"The low-order bits of the hash are used to select a bucket."
References:
GopherCon 2016: Keith Randall - Inside the Map Implementation
Using bit shift operators sets bucketCnt to be defined according to the value in bucketCntBits, so if bucketCntBits is changed, bucketCnt will change accordingly. Also, it more clearly expresses how bucketCntBits is related to bucketCnt.