In bitwise operations, << is the left bitwise shift operator. It shifts the bits of a binary number to the left by a specified number of positions. The operation is equivalent to multiplying the original number by 2 raised to the power of the shift count.
For example, if you have the binary number 1010 and perform a left shift by 2 (1010 << 2), the result will be 101000, as each bit is shifted two positions to the left, effectively multiplying the original decimal value by 4.