Strange counter-performance in an alternative `decimalLength9` function

[Bruce Carneal]

On Thursday, 27 February 2020 at 03:58:15 UTC, Bruce Carneal 
wrote:
> On Wednesday, 26 February 2020 at 23:09:34 UTC, Basile B. wrote:
>> On Wednesday, 26 February 2020 at 20:44:31 UTC, Bruce Carneal 
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> After shuffling the input, branchless wins by 2.4X (240%).
>>
>> 
> snip
>
> Let me know if the above is unclear or insufficient.

The 2.4X improvement came when using a shuffled uniform digits 
distribution.  Equal numbers of 1 digit values, 2 digit values, 
... put in to an array and shuffled.

Branchless *loses* by 8.5% or so on my Zen1 when the array is not 
shuffled (when branch predictions are nearly perfect).