sub fastolfe {
        my $source = shift;
        my $chop   = shift;
        local($_);

        my %found;
        $found{$_}++ while ($_ = chop($source)) ne '';
        while (($_ = chop($chop)) ne '') {
                return if --$found{$_} < 0;
        }

        my $result;
        foreach (sort keys %found) {
                $result .= $_ while $found{$_}--;
        }
        $result;
}

##</code><code>##

sub fast_merl {
        my ($source, $chop) = @_;
        local($_);

        my %found;
        $found{$_}++ while ($_ = chop($source)) ne '';
        while (($_ = chop($chop)) ne '') {
                return if --$found{$_} < 0;
        }

        return join "", map { $_ x $found{$_} } keys %found;
}

##</code><code>##

# demerphq's test set
             Rate blakem merlyn demq_scan demerphq fastolfe fast_merl fast_c scan_c
blakem      479/s     --   -24%      -39%     -44%     -46%      -47%   -97%   -98%
merlyn      629/s    31%     --      -20%     -27%     -29%      -30%   -96%   -97%
demq_scan   790/s    65%    26%        --      -8%     -11%      -12%   -95%   -97%
demerphq    861/s    80%    37%        9%       --      -3%       -4%   -95%   -96%
fastolfe    887/s    85%    41%       12%       3%       --       -1%   -94%   -96%
fast_merl   901/s    88%    43%       14%       5%       2%        --   -94%   -96%
fast_c    15708/s  3179%  2396%     1889%    1723%    1671%     1644%     --   -31%
scan_c    22648/s  4627%  3499%     2767%    2529%    2453%     2415%    44%     --

# simple success case
             Rate blakem merlyn demerphq fastolfe fast_merl demq_scan fast_c scan_c
blakem     6244/s     --   -14%     -26%     -32%      -35%      -43%   -90%   -93%
merlyn     7221/s    16%     --     -14%     -21%      -24%      -34%   -89%   -92%
demerphq   8429/s    35%    17%       --      -8%      -12%      -23%   -87%   -91%
fastolfe   9181/s    47%    27%       9%       --       -4%      -16%   -86%   -90%
fast_merl  9563/s    53%    32%      13%       4%        --      -12%   -85%   -90%
demq_scan 10908/s    75%    51%      29%      19%       14%        --   -83%   -88%
fast_c    65634/s   951%   809%     679%     615%      586%      502%     --   -28%
scan_c    91428/s  1364%  1166%     985%     896%      856%      738%    39%     --

# simple failure case
              Rate blakem merlyn demerphq demq_scan fastolfe fast_merl scan_c fast_c
blakem      7759/s     --   -39%     -51%      -60%     -63%      -63%   -94%   -94%
merlyn     12666/s    63%     --     -20%      -35%     -39%      -40%   -89%   -91%
demerphq   15783/s   103%    25%       --      -19%     -24%      -26%   -87%   -89%
demq_scan  19581/s   152%    55%      24%        --      -5%       -8%   -84%   -86%
fastolfe   20720/s   167%    64%      31%        6%       --       -2%   -83%   -85%
fast_merl  21209/s   173%    67%      34%        8%       2%        --   -82%   -85%
scan_c    119642/s  1442%   845%     658%      511%     477%      464%     --   -14%
fast_c    139171/s  1694%   999%     782%      611%     572%      556%    16%     --