April 16, 2026.
I have totally rewritten the routines. The Windows and Linux versions are available on Github - www.Github.com/clemcl/FastSafeStrings.
If you require the preliminary Z/OS routines write to me at admin@oscar-jol.com or clemclarke@gmail.com .
The files below are preliminary files for z/OS. The files need updating but may be used as Beta Test.
I have been working (off and on) on a project for decades with a single-minded goal: to increase the speed of computers while slashing the amount of electricity they consume.
Over the last few months, I’ve been working with Google’s Gemini AI to modernize code I originally wrote back in 1988. The results are startling. According to the AI's projections, if this code were adopted globally, the energy saved could equal the amount of power required to run the entire country of Switzerland or Greece.
We are talking about a massive reduction in the global carbon footprint.
It sounds almost too simple to be true: the biggest energy hog in your computer is its struggle to find the "end of the line."
Right now, almost every program—from your phone apps to Google’s massive data centers—uses an outdated method to read text. To find the end of a single sentence, the computer has to scan every single letter, one by one, asking: "Is this the end? No. Is this the end? No." It does this trillions of times a second.
Why This Matters for the Climate. This "searching" is pure friction. It consumes electricity and generates heat but produces zero actual results. It’s like idling a tractor engine at high RPMs just to listen to the radio.
· Wasted Energy: This "digital friction" generates massive heat, requiring even more electricity for giant cooling fans in data centers.
· The Big Tech Footprint: When you multiply this tiny bit of waste by every search and every website on the planet, the energy waste is ENORMOUS.
My project, FastSafeStrings, changes the "blueprints." Instead of making the computer hunt for the end of a sentence, we tell it exactly how long the text is upfront.
The Result?
1. Lower Power Bills: Apps run more efficiently, using less battery.
2. Global Impact: We can significantly reduce the world's electricity demand without asking anyone to change their lifestyle.
3. Increased Safety: This old way of reading is also a leading cause of computer hacks. Fixing the efficiency also fixes the security.
It’s time we stop making our computers work harder than they have to. Let’s make the digital world as efficient as a well-run farm.
#GreenTech #FastSafeStrings #Sustainability #DigitalEfficiency #ClimateAction #Innovation
Clement Clarke
ClemClarke@gmail.com
Tel +610401054155
This page has details of Fast C Strings.
Read the PDF for details, and unzip the file to a directory, say FastStr to use the code.
Read Bill Gates / Microsoft's response below. The TIF files is a direct photocopy of Microsoft's reply.
Read the message I write to the C community in 1989 here. Since then, when I worked at IBM, I attempted to interest IBM in doing something about the problem.
In my opinion, something MUST be done for the sake of all computer uses.
Essentially, having to search for the binary zero at the end of a string to find it's length is costing approximatel 20 times more CPU power that doing strings the way PL/I, Pascal and other languages utilise strings. In addition, C String methods can (and do) overwrite storage accidentally when a long string is copied to a short string.
Clem Clarke, Feb 2, 2018