Optimizing UTF-8 Decoding with a Lookup Table: Branchless Approach

This article explores optimizing UTF-8 decoding by using a lookup table to avoid branch prediction overhead. The author details creating a 256-byte lookup table that maps the lead byte of a UTF-8 sequence to its length. This replaces branching with simple array access, improving decoding efficiency. While adding a 256-byte memory cost, this approach can significantly boost performance in many scenarios.