Do not zero-pute: an efficient homespun MPEG-audio layer II decoding and optimization strategy

In this paper we point out that the general principle "do not compute what you do not need to compute" can be applied easily and successfully within a MPEG audio decoding strategy. More specifically, we will discuss the problem of eliminating costly computation cycles being wasted at processing useless zero-valued data. Hence, the title: "do not zero-pute". At first, this may all sound somewhat obvious or trivial. Indeed, this can be true in many cases, but experience gathered in various teaching related projects during several academic years has also lead us to believe the opposite. Moreover, a survey of the existing literature quickly reveals that the approach discussed below has not been investigated and documented properly. Although we will only illustrate our optimization approach by discussing the MPEG-audio layer II decoding process in detail, we hope the reader will be able to apply, extend, and implement the basic principles presented here within many other applications.