$ perl createblinker.pl 500000 -900000 100 >x.tmp 2>y.tmp


##</code><code>##

c++              138 MB    4 secs

               mem size   v5.26.0   v5.24.2   v5.22.4

infinite       7,548 MB  122 secs  119 secs  133 secs
original         704 MB  167 secs  168 secs  180 secs
improvements     744 MB   57 secs   57 secs   63 secs
optimized i2   1,543 MB   38 secs   39 secs   40 secs
2 nums into 1  1,510 MB   39 secs   40 secs   42 secs
shorter impl   1,661 MB   40 secs   42 secs   44 secs


##</code><code>##

$ /opt/cperl-5.24.3c/bin/cperl -I. tbench1.pl x.tmp 2
cell count at start = 1500000
run benchmark for 2 ticks
cell count at end = 1500000
time taken: 116 secs   - infinite board
time taken: 163 secs   - original
time taken:  54 secs   - improvements
time taken:  36 secs   - optimized pack i2
time taken:  37 secs   - two numbers into one
time taken:  37 secs   - shorter implementation