How does the bitwise complement operator (~ tilde) work?

Question

Why is it that ~2 is equal to -3? How does ~ operator work?

Answer 1

This operation is a complement, not a negation.

Consider that ~0 = -1, and work from there.

The algorithm for negation is, "complement, increment".

Did you know? There is also "one's complement" where the inverse numbers are symmetrical, and it has both a 0 and a -0.