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bit_length 

        # Integer.bit_length

(from ruby core)
---
    int.bit_length  ->  integer

---

Returns the number of bits of the value of `int`.

"Number of bits" means the bit position of the highest bit which is
different from the sign bit (where the least significant bit has bit
position 1). If there is no such bit (zero or minus one), zero is
returned.

I.e. this method returns *ceil(log2(int < 0 ? -int : int+1))*.

    (-2**1000-1).bit_length   #=> 1001
    (-2**1000).bit_length     #=> 1000
    (-2**1000+1).bit_length   #=> 1000
    (-2**12-1).bit_length     #=> 13
    (-2**12).bit_length       #=> 12
    (-2**12+1).bit_length     #=> 12
    -0x101.bit_length         #=> 9
    -0x100.bit_length         #=> 8
    -0xff.bit_length          #=> 8
    -2.bit_length             #=> 1
    -1.bit_length             #=> 0
    0.bit_length              #=> 0
    1.bit_length              #=> 1
    0xff.bit_length           #=> 8
    0x100.bit_length          #=> 9
    (2**12-1).bit_length      #=> 12
    (2**12).bit_length        #=> 13
    (2**12+1).bit_length      #=> 13
    (2**1000-1).bit_length    #=> 1000
    (2**1000).bit_length      #=> 1001
    (2**1000+1).bit_length    #=> 1001

This method can be used to detect overflow in Array#pack as follows:

    if n.bit_length < 32
      [n].pack("l") # no overflow
    else
      raise "overflow"
    end

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