alexbowe

Interesting read, thanks for sharing!

If you have some benchmark results, it'd be great to see how it compares to traditional data structures in practice, for different datasets and varying k-mer lengths

I'm an ex-Melbournite doing a PhD in bioinformatics algorithms (and succinct data structures) in Tokyo.

I'm mainly interested in co-working spaces for cross-pollination of ideas, and friendly challenges.

So, if anyone in Tokyo wants to meet up to work on some stuff (together or separately, but in proximity), let me know.

Although not part of the language proper, C++'s STL has vector<bool> that packs boolean flags into a bitvector (a now regrettable optimisation, since it doesn't function the way a container should - a story for another time). There is also bitset, which is similar but static.

Erlang has a beautiful language feature for this: http://www.erlang.org/doc/programming_examples/bit_syntax.ht... It uses pattern matching to unpack variable length fields in a bitvector. So beautiful.

Edit: Check arianvanp's post above https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5506902

I use them whenever I need to. Often I don't need to, since a compiler should be able to optimise the very basic things. Optimising prematurely is a good way to stuff something up (see question 5 here: http://ridiculousfish.com/blog/posts/will-it-optimize.html) And it hurts readability.

I would expect most good programmers to know at least some basic "tricks" though (and would hope they have the sense to not over use them).

It's cool :) and I just want to say that the readme is awesome. I love developers who communicate :P

I'm interested in the paper too of course :D

Thanks ot! :) I loved writing them and I hope it shows. Where is your blog at? Yes I was tempted to write a wiki page before...

Thanks! I'll keep visiting ^^ looks interesting as it is

Yes you should do a blog post :) What is your blog address?

Glad you mentioned this. The author linked to my blog post, where I mention fast rank/select structures. There are faster ways to do it without a supporting structure too of course :) but I do like this post.

I'm interested in what you use the WT for in your job... I'm just starting off my PhD in succinct data structures, so it's nice to know that people use them :P

For background: I'm 23, starting my PhD. Have had about a year of industry work (including a game company - actual interesting work). I have a few startup ideas (trying hard to execute), and I'm interviewing with Google (although I failed last year, and I might just wanna do my PhD). I wasn't passionate about programming until last year actually, after I started reading more.

People say that the smartest people are uncertain of their own abilities, because they see the bigger picture. They are the ones that can see just how deep this rabbit hole goes. Infinity can be a daunting thing. I guess it can either make you give up, or push harder.

I'd hazard a guess to say you are on track (although who am I to say) :) never become a senior developer, just move along the spectrum of a curious, 'young' programmer mind.

Happy birthday in a couple of months :)

Thanks for reading the post, and Michael for posting it. I enjoyed all the comments. I only recognized Zed Shaw, Batman and a few others, so I've got some reading to do :)