Efficient storage and search of word lists and other text

1. A computer-implemented method for searching a collection of machine readable digital data, the method comprising:

a computer receiving a given search word;

the computer evaluating the search word against some or all words in a table, said table having rows and columns, each word residing in a different row and each letter of the word occupying a different column in that row,

where the words are stored so as to preserve order of the letters within the words, and

where each contiguous run of same letters in a column forms an interval, and such that the lengths of the intervals are maximized to facilitate data searching, the evaluating operation comprising:

for each target word in the table to which the search word is being evaluated, comparing, one letter at a time, letters of the search word to corresponding letters of the target word as represented by the columns in the table;

upon completing the evaluating operation without finding a successful match, providing an output representing a failed match.

2. The method of claim 1 , where:

the comparing operation comprises the operations of:

establishing a pointer for each letter of the search word, each pointer identifying a corresponding column in a first row of the table;

comparing letters of the search word to letters at the corresponding pointers; and

providing a skipping operation that comprises advancing each pointer to a row in the table where a next interval begins in a column

where the comparing operation encountered the letter of the search word failing to match the letter of the target word.

3. The method of claim 2 , the operations further comprising computing how many intervals are present in each column, and determining a low-to-high order of the columns as to intervals present therein; where the operation of comparing letters of the search word to a letter at the corresponding pointer progresses from pointer to pointer in accordance with the low-to-high order.

4. The method of claim 2 , where the table resides in a compressed form including a data stream comprising, for each column, run length coding of the intervals in that column;

the table further including metadata, said metadata including jump codes, each jump code having a given position in the data stream and identifying a second position in the data stream constituting a relative jump from the given position spanning a predetermined number of table rows;

where the skipping operation comprises:

for each pointer, utilizing the jump codes to advance the pointer a known number of table rows ahead, and

thereafter moving any additionally required number of additional intervals to reach a position corresponding to a word in the table where said next interval begins.

5. The method of claim 1 , where:

the table further includes metadata identifying rows below which no occurrences of words of various letter lengths occur in the table;

the operations comprise concluding the comparing operation at a row below which there are no remaining occurrences of words with same length in letters as the search word.

6. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a computer readable storage medium tangibly embodying one or more of the following:

(1) a first program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform operations of searching a collection of machine-readable digital data, (2) a second program of machine-readable instructions executable by a digital processing apparatus to perform installation of the first program;

where said operations comprise:

receiving a given search word;

evaluating the search word against some or all words in a table, said table having rows and columns, each word residing in a different row and each letter of the word occupying a different column in that row, where the words are stored so as to preserve order of the letters within the words, and where each contiguous run of same letters in a column forms an interval, and such that lengths of the intervals are maximized to facilitate data searching, the evaluating operation comprising:

for each target word in the table to which the search word is being evaluated, comparing, one letter at a time, letters of the search word to corresponding letters of the target word as represented by the columns in the table;

upon completing the evaluating operation without finding a successful match, providing an output representing a failed match.

7. An apparatus, comprising:

circuitry of multiple interconnected electrically conductive elements configured to perform operations of searching a collection of machine-readable digital data;

where said operations comprise:

receiving a given search word;

evaluating the search word against some or all words in a table, said table having rows and columns, each word residing in a different row and each letter of the word occupying a different column in that row, where the words are stored so as to preserve order of the letters within the words, and where each contiguous run of same letters in a column forms an interval, and such that lengths of the intervals are maximized to facilitate data searching, the evaluating operation comprising:

for each target word in the table to which the search word is being evaluated, comparing, one letter at a time, letters of the search word to corresponding letters of the target word as represented by the columns in the table;

upon completing the evaluating operation without finding a successful match, providing an output representing a failed match.

8. A data processing computer apparatus, comprising:

at least one storage element configured to store a collection of machine-readable digital data including a plurality of words residing in a table having rows and columns, each word residing in a different row and each letter of the word occupying a different column in that row, where the words are stored so as to preserve order of the letters within the words, and where each contiguous run of same letters in a column forms an interval, and such that lengths of the intervals are maximized to facilitate data searching;

at least one processor configured to execute programmed instructions from a manager, the manager programmed to search the table by performing operations comprising:

receiving a given search word;

evaluating the search word against some or all words in the table, comprising operations of:

for each target word in the table to which the search word is being evaluated, comparing, one letter at a time, letters of the search word to corresponding letters of the target word as represented by the columns in the table;

upon completing the evaluating operation without finding a successful match, providing an output representing a failed match.