what would be the proper way to use bitmasks?

[Byron Thomas Cullen]

I'd like to get some feedback from you guys about the best/proper way to use bitmasks. I've seen them used in several ways, the most common I think is to do something like #define BLAH 0x0001 So I was wondering what is the proper way to use them. I've seen people use decimal number, hex numbers, ascending, decending, short, long and the list goes on and on. So let me know what you guys think is a good strong coding practice to get into the habit of. Thanks!

[User 1125]

Whatever representation you use, they should be const variables rather than preprocessor macros. Dave