Python: Extracting bits from a byte

The classic approach of checking whether a bit is set, is to use binary “and” operator, i.e.

x = 10 # 1010 in binary
if x & 0b10:  # explicitly: x & 0b0010 != 0
    print('First bit is set')

To check, whether n^th bit is set, use the power of two, or better bit shifting

def is_set(x, n):
    return x & 2 ** n != 0 

    # a more bitwise- and performance-friendly version:
    return x & 1 << n != 0

is_set(10, 1) # 1 i.e. first bit - as the count starts at 0-th bit
>>> True