How do you randomly zero a bit in an integer?

Question

Updated with newer answer and better test

Let\'s say I have the number 382 which is 101111110.

How could I randomly turn a bit which is not 0 to

Answer 1

Here's a slightly more efficient version using bit twiddling.

    public static int getBitCount(int bits)
    {
        bits = bits - ((bits >> 1) & 0x55555555);
        bits = (bits & 0x33333333) + ((bits >> 2) & 0x33333333);
        return ((bits + (bits >> 4) & 0xF0F0F0F) * 0x1010101) >> 24;
    }

    public static int flipRandomBit(int data)
    {
        int index = random.Next(getBitCount(data));
        int mask = data;

        for (int i = 0; i < index; i++)
            mask &= mask - 1;
        mask ^= mask & (mask - 1);

        return data ^ mask;
    }