[RESOLVED] Looking for possible optimization of code to count bits (1's).

[Billy Conner]

I was wondering if anyone could find a better solution to this code i wrote.
The purpose of this function is to simply tell me how many bits are flagged in a long integer.
I figured there may be some sort of magical equation (which i am not currently seeing) that could possibly cut down most of the looping.
Thanks in advanced for any time you spend on this.

Public Function FindLetterCount(ByVal pValue As Long) As Byte
    
    Dim MyCnt As Byte
    Dim i As Long

    For i = 30 To 0 Step -1
        MyCnt = MyCnt + Abs(CBool(pValue And (2 ^ i)))
    Next i
    
    FindLetterCount = MyCnt

End Function