How do I count the zeros and ones in a file?

Question

Given a file (binary or textual), what is the fastest or most elegant way in C++ to count the ones and zeros in the binary representation of that file?

Answer 1

I would recommend you use results array:

unsigned char cheating[] = { 0, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 1, 2, 2, 3, 2, 3, 3,
        4, 1, 2, 2, 3, 2, 3, 3, 4, 2, 3, 3, 4, 3, 4, 4, 5, 1, 2, 2, 3, 2,
        3, 3, 4, 2, 3, 3, 4, 3, 4, 4, 5, 2, 3, 3, 4, 3, 4, 4, 5, 3, 4, 4,
        5, 4, 5, 5, 6, 1, 2, 2, 3, 2, 3, 3, 4, 2, 3, 3, 4, 3, 4, 4, 5, 2,
        3, 3, 4, 3, 4, 4, 5, 3, 4, 4, 5, 4, 5, 5, 6, 2, 3, 3, 4, 3, 4, 4,
        5, 3, 4, 4, 5, 4, 5, 5, 6, 3, 4, 4, 5, 4, 5, 5, 6, 4, 5, 5, 6, 5,
        6, 6, 7, 1, 2, 2, 3, 2, 3, 3, 4, 2, 3, 3, 4, 3, 4, 4, 5, 2, 3, 3,
        4, 3, 4, 4, 5, 3, 4, 4, 5, 4, 5, 5, 6, 2, 3, 3, 4, 3, 4, 4, 5, 3,
        4, 4, 5, 4, 5, 5, 6, 3, 4, 4, 5, 4, 5, 5, 6, 4, 5, 5, 6, 5, 6, 6,
        7, 2, 3, 3, 4, 3, 4, 4, 5, 3, 4, 4, 5, 4, 5, 5, 6, 3, 4, 4, 5, 4,
        5, 5, 6, 4, 5, 5, 6, 5, 6, 6, 7, 3, 4, 4, 5, 4, 5, 5, 6, 4, 5, 5,
        6, 5, 6, 6, 7, 4, 5, 5, 6, 5, 6, 6, 7, 5, 6, 6, 7, 6, 7, 7, 8 };

After you read the file in as unsigned char array you can just sum:

    for (int i = 0; i < arraysize; i++) {
        sum0+=8-cheating[unsignedbytearray[i]];
        sum1+=cheating[unsignedbytearray[i]];
    }

It is very hard to write code, that would be faster or more elegant :P

Answer 2

Create a 256 length char array. Stream through the file a byte at a time incrementing the array position of each byte. Hard code the number of 1s in each of the 256 bytes in another array. Multiply the 2 arrays and sum.

Not sure about elegance and definitely requires more memory, but might be faster than linuxuser27's algorithm.