SMRTR ProgrammingAug 11, 2026Lobsters

The fastest double-to-string algorithm you’ve never heard of

SMRTR summary

The yy algorithm, buried inside the yyjson library, is one of the fastest double-to-string conversion algorithms ever written — yet it has no paper and almost no public recognition. It achieves speed by using just one multiplication (instead of two or three in classic Schubfach) via clever fixed-point arithmetic. A walkthrough using 8-bit E4M3 floats reveals a subtle boundary case where a one-LSB bias correction silently fixes what looks like a rounding bug.

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