Running a comparison of a, c and e several times on Win 7, Strawberry 5.16 shows the following results: 

       Rate   e   a   c
e 7079226/s  -- -1% -3%
a 7185758/s  2%  -- -1%
c 7269278/s  3%  1%  --

       Rate   e   c   a
e 7072032/s  -- -1% -3%
c 7143388/s  1%  -- -2%
a 7316126/s  3%  2%  --

       Rate   c   e   a
c 7161561/s  -- -1% -4%
e 7257544/s  1%  -- -2%
a 7427981/s  4%  2%  --

[download]

so my conclusion would be that the difference between the three is negligible. This is with -34 as the test number. For +34 the picture is quite different: 

        Rate    e    a    c
e  6807195/s   -- -26% -37%
a  9201425/s  35%   -- -15%
c 10867659/s  60%  18%   --

[download]

where c is a clear and consistent winner.

What shall I make of this in the light of the thread above?

In reply to Re: Sheer idle curiousity . . . by hdb
in thread Sheer idle curiousity . . . by TheMonkWithoutVows

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