---
title: Branchless Absolute Value
link: https://www.computerenhance.com/p/branchless-absolute-value
source: computerenhance-com
published: 2026-08-10T19:29:46Z
updated: 2026-08-10T19:29:46Z
first_seen: 2026-09-19T21:30:23.395188495Z
summary: Some operations are uniform enough that, even though we might ordinarily think of them as using a predicate, they can nonetheless be done by direct manipulation of the underlying bit pattern.
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Some operations are uniform enough that, even though we might ordinarily think of them as using a predicate, they can nonetheless be done by direct manipulation of the underlying bit pattern.

Aug 10, 2026

∙ Paid

[![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6lSF!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa38368d5-6b6a-4f2b-a165-e52bc9064d7b_3840x2160.jpeg)](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6lSF!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa38368d5-6b6a-4f2b-a165-e52bc9064d7b_3840x2160.jpeg)

*This is the fourteenth video in Part 5 of the Performance-Aware Programming series. Please see the [Table of Contents](https://www.computerenhance.com/p/table-of-contents) to quickly navigate through the rest of the course as it is updated, and [the code repository](https://github.com/cmuratori/computer_enhance) for downloadable code listings.*