The thread: Two counts, two rankings — page 3
The saving that is a loss
An operation that is seventy-eight times cheaper on a branching search costs twice as much on an exact one. It reports every symbol present in order to hand back the one that was asked for, and a search that knows its character needs none of the rest.
StructuresBits and steps on one frame
The size falls from ninety-nine per cent to eighty-six as the sampling thins, and the walk to a sampled position rises from two and a half steps to sixty-four. Neither line is the answer; the answer is a point on the pair.
What the libraries doThe scan the order does not touch
Two hundred and seven phrases examined per probe, against eleven. A running maximum of the source regions' right ends lets a leftward walk stop for good, and it costs twenty-two per cent more bits.
What the libraries doWhere the table starts paying
Five thousand and sixty-five operations before the first character, then one per character. Against nothing before the first character and thirty-nine per character. They cross at two hundred and fifty-six characters, and that crossing is what an engine's compile decision actually is.