一个快速的c#解决方案，使用预先计算的字节位计数表，并根据输入大小进行分支。

public static class BitCount
{
    public static uint GetSetBitsCount(uint n)
    {
        var counts = BYTE_BIT_COUNTS;
        return n <= 0xff ? counts[n]
             : n <= 0xffff ? counts[n & 0xff] + counts[n >> 8]
             : n <= 0xffffff ? counts[n & 0xff] + counts[(n >> 8) & 0xff] + counts[(n >> 16) & 0xff]
             : counts[n & 0xff] + counts[(n >> 8) & 0xff] + counts[(n >> 16) & 0xff] + counts[(n >> 24) & 0xff];
    }

    public static readonly uint[] BYTE_BIT_COUNTS =
    {
        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
    };
}

下面是功能优等递归解决方案，它是迄今为止最纯粹的一个(并且可以用于任何位长度!):

template<typename T>
int popcnt(T n)
{
  if (n>0)
    return n&1 + popcnt(n>>1);
  return 0; 
}

我特别喜欢这个来自《财富》的例子:

#define BITCOUNT(x)    (((BX_(x)+(BX_(x)>>4)) & 0x0F0F0F0F) % 255)
#define BX_(x)         ((x) - (((x)>>1)&0x77777777)
                             - (((x)>>2)&0x33333333)
                             - (((x)>>3)&0x11111111))

我最喜欢它，因为它太漂亮了!

unsigned int count_bit(unsigned int x)
{
  x = (x & 0x55555555) + ((x >> 1) & 0x55555555);
  x = (x & 0x33333333) + ((x >> 2) & 0x33333333);
  x = (x & 0x0F0F0F0F) + ((x >> 4) & 0x0F0F0F0F);
  x = (x & 0x00FF00FF) + ((x >> 8) & 0x00FF00FF);
  x = (x & 0x0000FFFF) + ((x >> 16)& 0x0000FFFF);
  return x;
}

我来解释一下这个算法。

该算法基于分治算法。假设有一个8位整数213(二进制的11010101)，算法是这样工作的(每次合并两个邻居块):

+-------------------------------+
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |  <- x
|  1 0  |  0 1  |  0 1  |  0 1  |  <- first time merge
|    0 0 1 1    |    0 0 1 0    |  <- second time merge
|        0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1        |  <- third time ( answer = 00000101 = 5)
+-------------------------------+

我发现了一个在数组中使用SIMD指令(SSSE3和AVX2)的位计数实现。它的性能比使用__popcnt64内禀函数要好2-2.5倍。

SSSE3版:

#include <smmintrin.h>
#include <stdint.h>

const __m128i Z = _mm_set1_epi8(0x0);
const __m128i F = _mm_set1_epi8(0xF);
//Vector with pre-calculated bit count:
const __m128i T = _mm_setr_epi8(0, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 1, 2, 2, 3, 2, 3, 3, 4);

uint64_t BitCount(const uint8_t * src, size_t size)
{
    __m128i _sum =  _mm128_setzero_si128();
    for (size_t i = 0; i < size; i += 16)
    {
        //load 16-byte vector
        __m128i _src = _mm_loadu_si128((__m128i*)(src + i));
        //get low 4 bit for every byte in vector
        __m128i lo = _mm_and_si128(_src, F);
        //sum precalculated value from T
        _sum = _mm_add_epi64(_sum, _mm_sad_epu8(Z, _mm_shuffle_epi8(T, lo)));
        //get high 4 bit for every byte in vector
        __m128i hi = _mm_and_si128(_mm_srli_epi16(_src, 4), F);
        //sum precalculated value from T
        _sum = _mm_add_epi64(_sum, _mm_sad_epu8(Z, _mm_shuffle_epi8(T, hi)));
    }
    uint64_t sum[2];
    _mm_storeu_si128((__m128i*)sum, _sum);
    return sum[0] + sum[1];
}

AVX2 版本：

#include <immintrin.h>
#include <stdint.h>

const __m256i Z = _mm256_set1_epi8(0x0);
const __m256i F = _mm256_set1_epi8(0xF);
//Vector with pre-calculated bit count:
const __m256i T = _mm256_setr_epi8(0, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 1, 2, 2, 3, 2, 3, 3, 4, 
                                   0, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 2, 3, 1, 2, 2, 3, 2, 3, 3, 4);

uint64_t BitCount(const uint8_t * src, size_t size)
{
    __m256i _sum =  _mm256_setzero_si256();
    for (size_t i = 0; i < size; i += 32)
    {
        //load 32-byte vector
        __m256i _src = _mm256_loadu_si256((__m256i*)(src + i));
        //get low 4 bit for every byte in vector
        __m256i lo = _mm256_and_si256(_src, F);
        //sum precalculated value from T
        _sum = _mm256_add_epi64(_sum, _mm256_sad_epu8(Z, _mm256_shuffle_epi8(T, lo)));
        //get high 4 bit for every byte in vector
        __m256i hi = _mm256_and_si256(_mm256_srli_epi16(_src, 4), F);
        //sum precalculated value from T
        _sum = _mm256_add_epi64(_sum, _mm256_sad_epu8(Z, _mm256_shuffle_epi8(T, hi)));
    }
    uint64_t sum[4];
    _mm256_storeu_si256((__m256i*)sum, _sum);
    return sum[0] + sum[1] + sum[2] + sum[3];
}

一个简单的方法，应该工作得很好少量的比特它像这样(在这个例子中的4位):

(i & 1) + (i & 2)/2 + (i & 4)/4 + (i & 8)/8

对于少量的比特，其他人会推荐这种简单的解决方案吗?