diff --git a/branch_predict_test/.gitignore b/branch_predict_test/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2211df6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/branch_predict_test/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+*.txt
diff --git a/branch_predict_test/Makefile b/branch_predict_test/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0aab384
--- /dev/null
+++ b/branch_predict_test/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+build: branch_predict.c
+	gcc branch_predict.c -O2 -o branch_predict.exe
diff --git a/branch_predict_test/branch_predict b/branch_predict_test/branch_predict
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..e109078
Binary files /dev/null and b/branch_predict_test/branch_predict differ
diff --git a/branch_predict_test/branch_predict.c b/branch_predict_test/branch_predict.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..10e3d20
--- /dev/null
+++ b/branch_predict_test/branch_predict.c
@@ -0,0 +1,227 @@
+#include<stdio.h>
+#include<stdlib.h>
+#include<string.h>
+#include<time.h>
+
+/*
+ * range of the chars in the randomly generated string
+ *
+ * 33 = '!'
+ * 127 = '~'
+ *
+ */
+
+#define CHAR_START 33
+#define CHAR_END   127
+
+/*
+ * returns dynamically allocated random string
+ * with a strlen between minLen and maxLen
+ * the memory size is strlen + 1 
+ *
+ */
+
+char* rand_word(unsigned minLen, unsigned maxLen);
+/*
+ * uses rand returned value >= min and value <= max
+ */
+unsigned rand_between(unsigned min, unsigned max);
+
+/*
+ * returns an array of dynamically allocated strings
+ * length of array is n + 1, the last value is NULL
+ */
+char** random_strings(size_t n, unsigned minLen, unsigned maxLen);
+
+/*
+ * returns strlen without newline
+ * removes terminates string at newline position
+ */
+size_t remove_newline(char* str);
+
+/*max line size with newline and terminating 0*/ 
+#define MAX_LINE_SIZE 1024
+/*
+ * nRead, out:  allowed to be NULL
+ * 	nRead represents actually read strings, without trailing NULL
+ * 	e.g. if 0 strings are read, nRead will be 0, and the returned array will be {NULL}
+ * returns string array, null terminated
+ *
+ */
+char** read_strings(const char* fileName,  size_t* nRead);
+
+/*
+ * count set bits in string s
+ */
+int string_bit_count(char* s);
+
+/*
+ * returns malloced memory of size memSize
+ * if it fails, it exits with 7 the programm
+ *
+ */
+void* non_null_malloc(size_t memSize);
+
+int string_sort_func(const void* a, const void* b);
+
+void usage_and_exit();
+
+void usage_and_exit() {
+		printf("usage\n");
+		printf("<prog> measure <filename>\n"); 
+		printf("<prog> sort <filename>\n"); 
+		printf("<prog> generate <n> <min> <max>\n"); 
+		exit(1); 
+}
+int main(int argc, char* argv[]) 
+{
+	_Bool generate = 0;
+	_Bool measure  = 0;
+	_Bool sort  = 0;
+	if(argc < 2 ) { 
+		usage_and_exit();
+	}
+	measure = strcmp(argv[1], "measure")  == 0;
+	generate  = strcmp(argv[1], "generate") == 0;
+	sort  = strcmp(argv[1], "sort") == 0;
+	if((!generate) && (!measure) && (!sort)) {
+		usage_and_exit();
+	}
+	if(measure) {
+		if(argc != 3 ) { 
+			usage_and_exit();
+		}
+		char** array = read_strings(argv[2], NULL);
+		char** p = array;
+		unsigned long long counter = 0;
+		clock_t t1, t0 = clock();
+		for(; *p; ++p) {
+			counter += string_bit_count(*p);
+		}
+		t1 = clock();
+		printf("measure file: <%s>\n", argv[2]);
+		printf("counter = %llu\n", counter);
+		printf("time = %lf ms\n", (t1 - t0) / (double) CLOCKS_PER_SEC * 1000.0);
+
+	} else if(generate) {
+		if(argc != 5 ) { 
+			usage_and_exit();
+		}
+		unsigned n, minLen, maxLen; 
+		sscanf(argv[2], "%u", &n);
+		sscanf(argv[3], "%u", &minLen);
+		sscanf(argv[4], "%u", &maxLen);
+		char** words = random_strings(n, minLen, maxLen);
+		for(int i=0; i<n; ++i) {
+			printf("%s\n", words[i]);
+		}
+	} else if(sort) {
+		if(argc != 3 ) { 
+			usage_and_exit();
+		}
+		size_t nRead = 0;
+		char** array = read_strings(argv[2], &nRead);
+		qsort(array, nRead, sizeof(char*), string_sort_func);
+
+		for(size_t i=0; i < nRead; ++i) {
+			printf("%s\n", array[i]);
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+
+
+
+
+size_t remove_newline(char* str) {
+	size_t pos = 0;
+	while(str[pos] && str[pos] != '\n') ++pos;
+	str[pos] = '\0';
+	return pos;
+}
+
+
+char** random_strings(size_t n, unsigned minLen, unsigned maxLen) {
+	char** array = (char**) non_null_malloc(sizeof(char*) * (n+1));
+	for(size_t i=0; i<n; ++i) {
+		array[i] = rand_word(minLen, maxLen);
+	}
+	array[n] = NULL;
+	return array;
+}
+
+void* non_null_malloc(size_t memSize) {
+	char* m = malloc(memSize);
+	if(!m) {
+		perror("non_malloc_failed");
+		exit(7);
+	}
+	return m;
+}
+unsigned rand_between(unsigned min, unsigned max) {
+	int rv = rand();
+	unsigned urv = rv < 0? -1*rv : rv;
+	unsigned v = (rv % ((max+1) - min)) + min;
+	return v;
+}
+char* rand_word(unsigned minLen, unsigned maxLen) {
+	unsigned len = rand_between(minLen, maxLen);
+	char* s    = non_null_malloc(len+1);
+	for(size_t i=0; i<len; ++i) {
+		s[i] = rand_between(CHAR_START, CHAR_END);
+	}
+	s[len] = '\0';
+	return s;
+}
+int string_bit_count(char* s) {
+	//printf("<%s>\n", s);
+	int count = 0;
+	int len = strlen(s);
+	for(int i=0; i<len; ++i) {
+		for(int k=0; k<8; ++k) {
+			if(s[i] & (1 << k)) {
+				++count;
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	//printf("count = %d\n", count);
+	return count;
+}
+int string_sort_func(const void* a, const void* b) {
+	 char* sa = *((char**) a);
+	 char* sb = *((char**) b);
+	 return strcmp(sa, sb);
+}
+char** read_strings(const char* fileName, size_t* nRead) {
+	size_t len;
+	char* sp;
+	FILE* f = fopen(fileName, "r");
+	if(!f) { perror("unable to open file"); exit(1); }
+	char* buff = non_null_malloc(MAX_LINE_SIZE);
+	size_t out_array_len = 16 * sizeof(char*);
+	size_t out_array_pos = 0;
+	char** out_array = non_null_malloc(out_array_len);
+	out_array[0] = NULL;
+	while(! feof(f)) {
+			buff[0] = '\0';
+			if(! fgets(buff, MAX_LINE_SIZE, f)) {
+				break;
+			}
+			len = remove_newline(buff);
+			if(len > 0) {
+				sp = non_null_malloc(len+1);
+				memcpy(sp, buff, len+1);
+				if(out_array_pos + 1 > out_array_len / sizeof(char*)) {
+					out_array_len = out_array_len * 2;
+					out_array = realloc(out_array, out_array_len);
+					if(! out_array) { perror("allocation failed"); exit(1); }
+				}
+				out_array[out_array_pos++] = sp;
+				out_array[out_array_pos] = NULL;
+			}
+	}
+	fclose(f);
+	if(nRead) *nRead = out_array_pos;
+	return out_array;
+
+}
diff --git a/branch_predict_test/test.sh b/branch_predict_test/test.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0501f33
--- /dev/null
+++ b/branch_predict_test/test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+./branch_predict generate 5000000 10  10 > unsorted_sample01.txt
+./branch_predict sort unsorted_sample01.txt  > issorted_sample01.txt
+echo "head of unsorted_sample01.txt" >> output.txt
+head unsorted_sample01.txt >> output.txt
+echo "\n" >> output.txt
+./branch_predict measure unsorted_sample01.txt >> output.txt
+./branch_predict measure issorted_sample01.txt >> output.txt