Cecilia Tate // capitol // fin

/* The version below is from Harbison & Steele Fourth Ed. section 7.6.7
(p. 215). Nine ops, not counting the "if" statement. */

unsigned next_set_of_n_elements(unsigned x) {
unsigned smallest, ripple, new_smallest, ones;

if (x == 0) return 0;
smallest = (x & -x);
ripple = x + smallest;
new_smallest = (ripple & -ripple);
ones = ((new_smallest/smallest) >> 1) - 1;
return ripple | ones;
}

/* I ran into this next version in October 2007 on the TopCoder web site:
The author is David de Kloet. The variable x must be signed,
or after generating a correct sequence, it will generate some incorrect
values and then loop forever. Must have x != 0. After generating the
sequence, it generates 0xFFFFFFFF and sticks at that value.
The number of shifts done in the while-loop is equal to the number of
trailing zeros in the input x. So what is the average? I don't know,
will work on it. The values of x are NOT random, they tend to have more
trailing 0's than purely random numbers would have. (For uniformly
distributed random numbers, the average is 1.)
For a word size of 32, if n (the number of 1-bits) = 1, the average
number of trailing 0's is 15.5 (average of the numbers from 0 t 31). For
n = 2, the average is 10 (I think). It gets lower for higher values of
n. */

KEYWORD: SNOW

ACCESS DENIED 

A sigh slips past my pale thin lips and I press the butt of the cigarette to my mouth, my lips closing around it a moment before breathing in a deep breathe, inhaling the toxic substance. I hold my breathe for a moment, my mind racing, the fingers of my right hand tapping rapidly on the table top beside me. 

I could do this.

I had to do this.

I was trained my whole life for this, this was the reason of my existence. 

A frown buries itself onto my forehead, making the delicate skin form deep crevices. I pull the cigerate away from my mouth and push its end into the ash tray beside me. I watch as its end crumples and it goes out in a puff of smoke. I flick the butt into the bin behind me before running my dark worried gaze back to the computer screen before me.

I can do this. I can do this. I ca do this. just think like one of those know it all, stuck up piece of shit peacekeepers. I a, better than them. I a, more skilled, I have had better training. I can do this.

I take a deep breath before placing my hands onto the keyboard. My fingers shake and I take in a deep breath, one that lifts my shoulders. I hold the breathe for a moment before releasing it. Just think like one of them.


#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int ntz(unsigned x) { // Number of trailing zeros.
int n;

if (x == 0) return(32);
n = 1;
if ((x & 0x0000FFFF) == 0) {n = n +16; x = x >>16;}
if ((x & 0x000000FF) == 0) {n = n + 8; x = x >> 8;}
if ((x & 0x0000000F) == 0) {n = n + 4; x = x >> 4;}
if ((x & 0x00000003) == 0) {n = n + 2; x = x >> 2;}
return n - (x & 1);
}

int nlz(unsigned x) {
int n;

if (x == 0) return(32);
n = 0;
if (x <= 0x0000FFFF) {n = n +16; x = x <<16;}
if (x <= 0x00FFFFFF) {n = n + 8; x = x << 8;}
if (x <= 0x0FFFFFFF) {n = n + 4; x = x << 4;}
if (x <= 0x3FFFFFFF) {n = n + 2; x = x << 2;}
if (x <= 0x7FFFFFFF) {n = n + 1;}
return n;
}

int pop(unsigned x) {
x = x - ((x >> 1) & 0x55555555);
x = (x & 0x33333333) + ((x >> 2) & 0x33333333);
x = (x + (x >> 4)) & 0x0F0F0F0F;
x = x + (x << 8);
x = x + (x << 16);
return x >> 24;
}

/* This version is from Hakmem (item 175) converted to C. Caution: Do
not call this with x = 0; it then does a divide by 0. If called with
the largest number with a certain number of 1's (i.e., 11...100...0),
it returns a number smaller than the argument.
It is basically seven ops, one of which is division. *

KEYWORD: PANEMS PROTECTORS

ACCESS DENIED

My heart races in my chest, my teeth grinding into one another. 

Think!

// ------------------------------ cut ----------------------------------
unsigned snoob(unsigned x) {
unsigned smallest, ripple, ones;
// x = xxx0 1111 0000
smallest = x & -x; // 0000 0001 0000
ripple = x + smallest; // xxx1 0000 0000
ones = x ^ ripple; // 0001 1111 0000
ones = (ones >> 2)/smallest; // 0000 0000 0111
return ripple | ones; // xxx1 0000 0111
}
// ---------------------------- end cut --------------------------------

/* Variation 1: ntz to avoid division. Eight ops. */

unsigned snoob1(unsigned x) {
unsigned smallest, ripple, ones;
// x = xxx0 1111 0000
smallest = x & -x; // 0000 0001 0000
ripple = x + smallest; // xxx1 0000 0000
ones = x ^ ripple; // 0001 1111 0000
ones = ones >> (2 + ntz(x)); // 0000 0000 0111
return ripple | ones; // xxx1 0000 0111
}

/* Variation 2: nlz to avoid division. Nine ops. */

unsigned snoob2(unsigned x) {
unsigned smallest, ripple, ones;
// x = xxx0 1111 0000
smallest = x & -x; // 0000 0001 0000
ripple = x + smallest; // xxx1 0000 0000
ones = x ^ ripple; // 0001 1111 0000
ones = ones>>(33-nlz(smallest)); // 0000 0000 0111
return ripple | ones; // xxx1 0000 0111

KEYWORD: CEASAR FLICKERMAN 

ACCESS GRANTED 

My lips part in a smile and I lean back in my chair. Caesar Flickerman , huh? Now you might be thinking how fucking obvious but is it really? Would some dumbass citizen of the capitol really think of that as some password? No. They would think something glamorous, something that means everything to them, they would not think of an important man such as Caesar himself. Clever... But not clever enough.

I tuck a my dark hair behind my ear, my fingers brushing the skin of my chin as new words appear into the screen. I lean forward, my arms which were lean with muscle tucked onto the table in front of me as my eyes continued to watch as name upon name appeared before me. Next too each name was a number causing one of my dark eyebrows o arch in question. I tilt my head to the side and run a finger down the screen, reading the names, trying to put a face to the name, trying to understand what he values meant. 

The man who hired me, knowing my past, hadn't told me much about what I was looking for. he told me that there was going to be a list, and that the list was going to be constructed of name, names of people who were important in the planning of something that would ruin this mans life. It wasnt my job to ask questions. It was my job to get what he wanted. It was my job to deliver the list to him and claim my reward. 

That was my life, it consisted of being hired to do tasks that no one else would do- hell the peacekeepers hired me sometimes, knowing that I was one of the six people who were trained from a very young age to know nothing but to kill, to know nothing but to enjoy killing, to enjoy torturing, to enjoy the power it gave me. I was rained to be emotionless. I was trained to be a computer basically. Doing as commander, only to receive a bag of gold in the end. 

But not many people knew about me, about us. We were top secret, something the capitol created, something the capitol wanted to keep quiet. 

That was until every thing went wrong. Until they realised what we had become, until they realised that we were no longer human beings, that we were citizens of the capitol who had been twisted and prodded and experimented and had essentially become mutations.

Tianna Mccullen... 34
Barton Wilmer... 12
Carlie Strzelecki... 9
Charlette Poling... 250
Vicente Cassin... 500
Lyndon Andres... 23
Phuong Roeder... 45
Niki Paulin... 340
Krystyna Felten... 12
Sebrina Tinkham... 10
Xuan Brwon... 3
Rolando Cayetano... 89
Kari Farrelly... 4
Dianne Drago... 150
Raeann Hottinger... 150
Nicolle Plants... 500
Elodia Stancill... 8
Riley Lefler... 45
Carlotta Salvia... 65
Kattie Lepley... 70

I pull away from the screen and smile. It didn't really matter what anything meant, I had done what I needed to do. I had gotten the list, I had cracked the code now it was time to collect my reward. ("You always were one to not mess around, Ci." I smile at the boy, no words needing to be spoken because I knew he was right. I guess things haven't changed since back then, always one straight to the point.) 

I print the piece of paper out and climb to my feet, stretching for a moment fore I slip on some shoes and walk out the door, my eyes dancing with a cold gleam as I walk down the quiet hallway of my apartment building. The walls were damp and the air smelt like mould but it didn't matter to me because I knew this place was safe. I had lived here for to years now and not once had I had an issue. The people let me alone, no neighbours knocking on my door, solitude- just the way I liked it. 

I was a tormented soul, my might filled with nightmares but I was content with my life, I knew where I stood and thats the way it needed to be. I was a trained killer, a trained hacker and believe it or not, there were people out there willing to pay me for jobs which I enjoyed doing- despite how many times I tell myself I should not.