你要找的函数通常被称为二进制数的“横向和”或“总体数”。Knuth在前分册1A，第11-12页中讨论了它(尽管在第2卷，4.6.3-(7)中有简要的参考)。

经典文献是Peter Wegner的文章“二进制计算机中的一种计数技术”，摘自ACM通讯，卷3(1960)第5号，第322页。他给出了两种不同的算法，一种针对“稀疏”(即1的数量很少)的数字进行了优化，另一种针对相反的情况。

为什么不迭代地除以2呢?

count = 0
while n > 0
  if (n % 2) == 1
    count += 1
  n /= 2  

我同意这不是最快的，但是“最好”这个词有点含糊不清。我认为“最好”应该有一个清晰的元素

对于232查找表和逐个遍历每个位之间的折中方法:

int bitcount(unsigned int num){
    int count = 0;
    static int nibblebits[] =
        {0, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 1, 2, 2, 3, 2, 3, 3, 4};
    for(; num != 0; num >>= 4)
        count += nibblebits[num & 0x0f];
    return count;
}

从http://ctips.pbwiki.com/CountBits

摘自《黑客的喜悦》第66页，图5-2

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 & 0x0000003F;
}

执行大约20条指令(依赖于arch)，没有分支。黑客的喜悦是令人愉快的!强烈推荐。

下面是示例代码，可能很有用。

private static final int[] bitCountArr = new int[]{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};
private static final int firstByteFF = 255;
public static final int getCountOfSetBits(int value){
    int count = 0;
    for(int i=0;i<4;i++){
        if(value == 0) break;
        count += bitCountArr[value & firstByteFF];
        value >>>= 8;
    }
    return count;
}

这是一个可移植的模块(ANSI-C)，它可以在任何架构上对每个算法进行基准测试。

你的CPU有9位字节?目前它实现了2个算法，K&R算法和一个字节查找表。查找表的平均速度比K&R算法快3倍。如果有人能想出办法使“黑客的喜悦”算法可移植，请随意添加它。

#ifndef _BITCOUNT_H_
#define _BITCOUNT_H_

/* Return the Hamming Wieght of val, i.e. the number of 'on' bits. */
int bitcount( unsigned int );

/* List of available bitcount algorithms.  
 * onTheFly:    Calculate the bitcount on demand.
 *
 * lookupTalbe: Uses a small lookup table to determine the bitcount.  This
 * method is on average 3 times as fast as onTheFly, but incurs a small
 * upfront cost to initialize the lookup table on the first call.
 *
 * strategyCount is just a placeholder. 
 */
enum strategy { onTheFly, lookupTable, strategyCount };

/* String represenations of the algorithm names */
extern const char *strategyNames[];

/* Choose which bitcount algorithm to use. */
void setStrategy( enum strategy );

#endif

.

#include <limits.h>

#include "bitcount.h"

/* The number of entries needed in the table is equal to the number of unique
 * values a char can represent which is always UCHAR_MAX + 1*/
static unsigned char _bitCountTable[UCHAR_MAX + 1];
static unsigned int _lookupTableInitialized = 0;

static int _defaultBitCount( unsigned int val ) {
    int count;

    /* Starting with:
     * 1100 - 1 == 1011,  1100 & 1011 == 1000
     * 1000 - 1 == 0111,  1000 & 0111 == 0000
     */
    for ( count = 0; val; ++count )
        val &= val - 1;

    return count;
}

/* Looks up each byte of the integer in a lookup table.
 *
 * The first time the function is called it initializes the lookup table.
 */
static int _tableBitCount( unsigned int val ) {
    int bCount = 0;

    if ( !_lookupTableInitialized ) {
        unsigned int i;
        for ( i = 0; i != UCHAR_MAX + 1; ++i )
            _bitCountTable[i] =
                ( unsigned char )_defaultBitCount( i );

        _lookupTableInitialized = 1;
    }

    for ( ; val; val >>= CHAR_BIT )
        bCount += _bitCountTable[val & UCHAR_MAX];

    return bCount;
}

static int ( *_bitcount ) ( unsigned int ) = _defaultBitCount;

const char *strategyNames[] = { "onTheFly", "lookupTable" };

void setStrategy( enum strategy s ) {
    switch ( s ) {
    case onTheFly:
        _bitcount = _defaultBitCount;
        break;
    case lookupTable:
        _bitcount = _tableBitCount;
        break;
    case strategyCount:
        break;
    }
}

/* Just a forwarding function which will call whichever version of the
 * algorithm has been selected by the client 
 */
int bitcount( unsigned int val ) {
    return _bitcount( val );
}

#ifdef _BITCOUNT_EXE_

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

/* Use the same sequence of pseudo random numbers to benmark each Hamming
 * Weight algorithm.
 */
void benchmark( int reps ) {
    clock_t start, stop;
    int i, j;
    static const int iterations = 1000000;

    for ( j = 0; j != strategyCount; ++j ) {
        setStrategy( j );

        srand( 257 );

        start = clock(  );

        for ( i = 0; i != reps * iterations; ++i )
            bitcount( rand(  ) );

        stop = clock(  );

        printf
            ( "\n\t%d psudoe-random integers using %s: %f seconds\n\n",
              reps * iterations, strategyNames[j],
              ( double )( stop - start ) / CLOCKS_PER_SEC );
    }
}

int main( void ) {
    int option;

    while ( 1 ) {
        printf( "Menu Options\n"
            "\t1.\tPrint the Hamming Weight of an Integer\n"
            "\t2.\tBenchmark Hamming Weight implementations\n"
            "\t3.\tExit ( or cntl-d )\n\n\t" );

        if ( scanf( "%d", &option ) == EOF )
            break;

        switch ( option ) {
        case 1:
            printf( "Please enter the integer: " );
            if ( scanf( "%d", &option ) != EOF )
                printf
                    ( "The Hamming Weight of %d ( 0x%X ) is %d\n\n",
                      option, option, bitcount( option ) );
            break;
        case 2:
            printf
                ( "Please select number of reps ( in millions ): " );
            if ( scanf( "%d", &option ) != EOF )
                benchmark( option );
            break;
        case 3:
            goto EXIT;
            break;
        default:
            printf( "Invalid option\n" );
        }

    }

 EXIT:
    printf( "\n" );

    return 0;
}

#endif