“Bit vector” problems such as this one actually have many different analogs. (Graphics processing, in particular, comes to mind.)

Arrays of rgb or rgba (or CMK or HSA) are not bit vectors.

For instance, if you are routinely looking for bit-strings that are (say) only 20-30 bits long, then there really isn’t any alternative but to pedantically growl through the buffer.

There isn't any alternative. Full stop. Regardless of the length of the needles.

But when a sensible algorithm can locate 1 million bits close to the end of a 1/4 billion bits in 0.25 seconds, who cares if you have to "pedantically growl".

Strategies such as the one which I previously suggested would be of no real value,

It is of no value. Full stop.

Even if you try to press strategies such as Moore into service, you find that they are not nearly so effective in this situation

if by "Moore" you mean Boyer Moore; you're wrong again. It requires some modifications, but it can be very useful. Just not with microcoded scan loops.

Hence, the necessity to “divide and conquer.” To find some rune by which you can quickly eliminate all places where the data could not be.

There's no necessity. And anything that takes longer than 1/4 of a second is pointless.

With the rise and rise of 'Social' network sites: 'Computers are making people easier to use everyday'
Examine what is said, not who speaks -- Silence betokens consent -- Love the truth but pardon error.
"Science is about questioning the status quo. Questioning authority". I'm with torvalds on this
In the absence of evidence, opinion is indistinguishable from prejudice. Agile (and TDD) debunked

In reply to Re^2: [OT] The interesting problem of comparing bit-strings. by BrowserUk
in thread [OT] The interesting problem of comparing bit-strings. by BrowserUk

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.