Not so fast, there, pal :-)

I was mainly trying to inquire whether I was using some kind of known-slow operation in there.

Well, it seems you're not, but don't despair just yet. Instead, explain your code in English. Really. You're probably just using a much more complicated algorithm that your Pascal friend is...

If you explain what you want to do, people here might be able to help you :-) (and probably feel good about it)