Hamming numbers

From Rosetta Code
Task
Hamming numbers
You are encouraged to solve this task according to the task description, using any language you may know.

Hamming numbers are numbers of the form  

    H = 2i × 3j × 5k
           where 
     i,  j,  k  ≥  0 

Hamming numbers   are also known as   ugly numbers   and also   5-smooth numbers   (numbers whose prime divisors are less or equal to 5).


Task

Generate the sequence of Hamming numbers, in increasing order.   In particular:

  1. Show the   first twenty   Hamming numbers.
  2. Show the   1691st   Hamming number (the last one below   231).
  3. Show the   one millionth   Hamming number (if the language – or a convenient library – supports arbitrary-precision integers).


Related tasks


References



11l

Translation of: Python
F hamming(limit)
   V h = [1] * limit
   V (x2, x3, x5) = (2, 3, 5)
   V i = 0
   V j = 0
   V k = 0

   L(n) 1 .< limit
      h[n] = min(x2, x3, x5)
      I x2 == h[n]
         i++
         x2 = 2 * h[i]
      I x3 == h[n]
         j++
         x3 = 3 * h[j]
      I x5 == h[n]
         k++
         x5 = 5 * h[k]
   R h.last

print((1..20).map(i -> hamming(i)))
print(hamming(1691))
Output:
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 36]
2125764000

360 Assembly

*        Hamming numbers           12/03/2017
HAM      CSECT
         USING  HAM,R13            base register
         B      72(R15)            skip savearea
         DC     17F'0'             savearea
         STM    R14,R12,12(R13)    save previous context
         ST     R13,4(R15)         link backward
         ST     R15,8(R13)         link forward
         LR     R13,R15            set addressability
         LA     R6,1               ii=1
       DO WHILE=(C,R6,LE,=F'20')   do ii=1 to 20
         BAL    R14,PRTHAM           call prtham
         LA     R6,1(R6)             ii++
       ENDDO    ,                  enddo ii
         LA     R6,1691            ii=1691
         BAL    R14,PRTHAM         call prtham
         L      R13,4(0,R13)       restore previous savearea pointer
         LM     R14,R12,12(R13)    restore previous context
         XR     R15,R15            rc=0
         BR     R14                exit
PRTHAM   EQU    *             ---- prtham
         ST     R14,R14PRT         save return addr
         LR     R1,R6              ii
         XDECO  R1,XDEC            edit
         MVC    PG+2(4),XDEC+8     output ii
         LR     R1,R6              ii
         BAL    R14,HAMMING        call hamming(ii)
         XDECO  R0,XDEC            edit
         MVC    PG+8(10),XDEC+2    output hamming(ii)
         XPRNT  PG,L'PG            print buffer
         L      R14,R14PRT         restore return addr
         BR     R14           ---- return
HAMMING  EQU    *             ---- hamming(ll)
         ST     R14,R14HAM         save return addr
         ST     R1,LL              ll
         MVC    HH,=F'1'           h(1)=1
         SR     R0,R0              0
         ST     R0,I               i=0
         ST     R0,J               j=0
         ST     R0,K               k=0
         MVC    X2,=F'2'           x2=2
         MVC    X3,=F'3'           x3=3
         MVC    X5,=F'5'           x5=5
         LA     R7,1               n=1
         L      R2,LL              ll
         BCTR   R2,0               -1
         ST     R2,LLM1            ll-1
       DO WHILE=(C,R7,LE,LLM1)     do n=1 to ll-1
         L      R4,X2                m=x2
       IF C,R4,GT,X3 THEN            if m>x3 then
         L      R4,X3                  m=x3
       ENDIF    ,                    endif
       IF C,R4,GT,X5 THEN            if m>x5 then
         L      R4,X5                  m=x5
       ENDIF    ,                    endif
         LR     R1,R7                n
         SLA    R1,2                 *4
         ST     R4,HH(R1)            h(n+1)=m
       IF C,R4,EQ,X2 THEN            if m=x2 then
         L      R1,I                   i
         LA     R1,1(R1)               i+1
         ST     R1,I                   i=i+1
         SLA    R1,2                   *4
         L      R2,HH(R1)              h(i+1)
         MH     R2,=H'2'               *2
         ST     R2,X2                  x2=2*h(i+1)
       ENDIF    ,                    endif
       IF C,R4,EQ,X3 THEN            if m=x3 then
         L      R1,J                   j
         LA     R1,1(R1)               j+1
         ST     R1,J                   j=j+1
         SLA    R1,2                   *4
         L      R2,HH(R1)              h(j+1)
         MH     R2,=H'3'               *3
         ST     R2,X3                  x3=3*h(j+1)
       ENDIF    ,                    endif
       IF C,R4,EQ,X5 THEN            if m=x5 then
         L      R1,K                   k
         LA     R1,1(R1)               k+1
         ST     R1,K                   k=k+1
         SLA    R1,2                   *4
         L      R2,HH(R1)              h(k+1)
         MH     R2,=H'5'               *5
         ST     R2,X5                  x5=5*h(k+1)
       ENDIF    ,                    endif
         LA     R7,1(R7)             n++
       ENDDO    ,                  enddo n
         L      R1,LL              ll
         SLA    R1,2               *4
         L      R0,HH-4(R1)        return h(ll) 
         L      R14,R14HAM         restore return addr
         BR     R14           ---- return
R14HAM   DS     A                  return addr of hamming
R14PRT   DS     A                  return addr of print
LL       DS     F                  ll
LLM1     DS     F                  ll-1
I        DS     F                  i
J        DS     F                  j
K        DS     F                  k
X2       DS     F                  x2
X3       DS     F                  x3
X5       DS     F                  x5
PG       DC     CL80'H(xxxx)=xxxxxxxxxx'
XDEC     DS     CL12               temp
         LTORG                     positioning literal pool
HH       DS     1691F              array h(1691)
         YREGS
         END    HAM
Output:
H(   1)=         1
H(   2)=         2
H(   3)=         3
H(   4)=         4
H(   5)=         5
H(   6)=         6
H(   7)=         8
H(   8)=         9
H(   9)=        10
H(  10)=        12
H(  11)=        15
H(  12)=        16
H(  13)=        18
H(  14)=        20
H(  15)=        24
H(  16)=        25
H(  17)=        27
H(  18)=        30
H(  19)=        32
H(  20)=        36
H(1691)=2125764000

Ada

Works with: GNAT

GNAT provides the datatypes Integer, Long_Integer and Long_Long_Integer, which are not large enough to store hamming numbers. In this program, we represent them as the factors for each of the prime numbers 2, 3 and 5, and only convert them to a base-10 numbers for display. We use the gmp library binding part of GNATCOLL, though a simple 'pragma import' would be enough.

This version is very fast (20ms for the million-th hamming number), thanks to a good algorithm. We also do not manipulate large numbers directly (gmp lib), but only the factors of the prime.

It will fail to compute the billion'th number because we use an array of the stack to store all numbers. It is possible to get rid of this array though it will make the code slightly less readable.

with Ada.Numerics.Generic_Elementary_Functions;
with Ada.Text_IO; use Ada.Text_IO;
with GNATCOLL.GMP.Integers;
with GNATCOLL.GMP.Lib;

procedure Hamming is

   type Log_Type is new Long_Long_Float;
   package Funcs is new Ada.Numerics.Generic_Elementary_Functions (Log_Type);

   type Factors_Array is array (Positive range <>) of Positive;

   generic
      Factors : Factors_Array := (2, 3, 5);
      --  The factors for smooth numbers. Hamming numbers are 5-smooth.
   package Smooth_Numbers is
      type Number is private;
      function Compute (Nth : Positive) return Number;
      function Image (N : Number) return String;

   private
      type Exponent_Type is new Natural;
      type Exponents_Array is array (Factors'Range) of Exponent_Type;
      --  Numbers are stored as the exponents of the prime factors.

      type Number is record
         Exponents : Exponents_Array;
         Log       : Log_Type;
         --  The log of the value, used to ease sorting.
      end record;

      function "=" (N1, N2 : Number) return Boolean
        is (for all F in Factors'Range => N1.Exponents (F) = N2.Exponents (F));
   end Smooth_Numbers;

   package body Smooth_Numbers is
      One : constant Number := (Exponents => (others => 0), Log => 0.0);
      Factors_Log : array (Factors'Range) of Log_Type;

      function Image (N : Number) return String is
         use GNATCOLL.GMP.Integers, GNATCOLL.GMP.Lib;
         R, Tmp : Big_Integer;
      begin
         Set (R, "1");
         for F in Factors'Range loop
            Set (Tmp, Factors (F)'Image);
            Raise_To_N (Tmp, GNATCOLL.GMP.Unsigned_Long (N.Exponents (F)));
            Multiply (R, Tmp);
         end loop;
         return Image (R);
      end Image;

      function Compute (Nth : Positive) return Number is
         Candidates : array (Factors'Range) of Number;

         Values     : array (1 .. Nth) of Number;
         --  Will result in Storage_Error for very large values of Nth

         Indices    : array (Factors'Range) of Natural :=
            (others => Values'First);
         Current    : Number;
         Tmp        : Number;
      begin
         for F in Factors'Range loop
            Factors_Log (F) := Funcs.Log (Log_Type (Factors (F)));
            Candidates (F) := One;
            Candidates (F).Exponents (F) := 1;
            Candidates (F).Log := Factors_Log (F);
         end loop;

         Values (1) := One;

         for Count in 2 .. Nth loop
            --  Find next value (the lowest of the candidates)
            Current := Candidates (Factors'First);
            for F in Factors'First + 1 .. Factors'Last loop
               if Candidates (F).Log < Current.Log then
                  Current := Candidates (F);
               end if;
            end loop;

            Values (Count) := Current;

            --  Update the candidates. There might be several candidates with
            --  the same value
            for F in Factors'Range loop
               if Candidates (F) = Current then
                  Indices (F) := Indices (F) + 1;

                  Tmp := Values (Indices (F));
                  Tmp.Exponents (F) := Tmp.Exponents (F) + 1;
                  Tmp.Log := Tmp.Log + Factors_Log (F);

                  Candidates (F) := Tmp;
               end if;
            end loop;
         end loop;

         return Values (Nth);
      end Compute;
   end Smooth_Numbers;

   package Hamming is new Smooth_Numbers ((2, 3, 5));

begin
   for N in 1 .. 20 loop
      Put (" " & Hamming.Image (Hamming.Compute (N)));
   end loop;
   New_Line;

   Put_Line (Hamming.Image (Hamming.Compute (1691)));
   Put_Line (Hamming.Image (Hamming.Compute (1_000_000)));
end Hamming;
Output:
 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

ALGOL 68

Hamming numbers are generated in a trivial iterative way as in the Python version below. This program keeps the series needed to generate the numbers as short as possible using flexible rows; on the downside, it spends considerable time on garbage collection.

PR precision=100 PR

MODE SERIES = FLEX [1 : 0] UNT, # Initially, no elements #
     UNT = LONG LONG INT; # A 100-digit unsigned integer #

PROC hamming number = (INT n) UNT: # The n-th Hamming number #
     CASE n
     IN 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12 # First 10 in a table #
     OUT # Additional operators #
         OP MIN = (INT i, j) INT: (i < j | i | j), MIN = (UNT i, j) UNT: (i < j | i | j);
         PRIO MIN = 9;
         OP LAST = (SERIES h) UNT: h[UPB h]; # Last element of a series #
         OP +:= = (REF SERIES s, UNT elem) VOID:
            # Extend a series by one element, only keep the elements you need #
            (INT lwb = (i MIN j) MIN k, upb = UPB s; 
             REF SERIES new s = HEAP FLEX [lwb : upb + 1] UNT;
             (new s[lwb : upb] := s[lwb : upb], new s[upb + 1] := elem);
             s := new s
            );
         # Determine the n-th hamming number iteratively #
         SERIES h := 1, # Series, initially one element #
         UNT m2 := 2, m3 := 3, m5 := 5, # Multipliers #
         INT i := 1, j := 1, k := 1; # Counters #
         TO n - 1
         DO h +:= (m2 MIN m3) MIN m5;
            (LAST h = m2 | m2 := 2 * h[i +:= 1]);
            (LAST h = m3 | m3 := 3 * h[j +:= 1]);
            (LAST h = m5 | m5 := 5 * h[k +:= 1])
         OD;
         LAST h
     ESAC;

FOR k TO 20
DO print ((whole (hamming number (k), 0), blank)) 
OD;
print ((newline, whole (hamming number (1 691), 0)));
print ((newline, whole (hamming number (1 000 000), 0)))
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

ALGOL W

Algol W only has 32 bit integers, so we just show the first 20 Hamming Numbers and Hamming number 1691.
This uses the algorithm from Dr Dobbs (as in the Python version). The Coffee Script solution has some notes on how it works.

begin
    % returns the minimum of a and b                    %
    integer procedure min ( integer value a, b ) ; if a < b then a else b;
    % find and print Hamming Numbers                        %
    % Algol W only supports 32-bit integers so we just find %
    % the 1691 32-bit Hamming Numbers                       %
    integer MAX_HAMMING;
    MAX_HAMMING := 1691;
    begin
        integer array H( 1 :: MAX_HAMMING );
        integer p2, p3, p5, last2, last3, last5;
        H( 1 ) := 1;
        last2  := last3 := last5 := 1;
        p2     := 2;
        p3     := 3;
        p5     := 5;
        for hPos := 2 until MAX_HAMMING do begin
            integer m;
            % the next Hamming number is the lowest of the next multiple of 2, 3, and 5 %
            m := min( min( p2, p3 ), p5 );
            H( hPos ) := m;
            if m = p2 then begin
                last2 := last2 + 1;
                p2    := 2 * H( last2 )
            end if_used_power_of_2 ;
            if m = p3 then begin
                last3 := last3 + 1;
                p3    := 3 * H( last3 )
            end if_used_power_of_3 ;
            if m = p5 then begin
                last5 := last5 + 1;
                p5    := 5 * H( last5 )
            end if_used_power_of_5 ;
        end for_hPos ;
        i_w := 1;
        s_w := 1;
        write( H( 1 ) );
        for i := 2 until 20 do writeon( H( i ) );
        write( H( MAX_HAMMING ) )
    end
end.
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36
2125764000

Arturo

hamming: function [limit][
    if limit=1 -> return 1
    h: map 0..limit-1 'z -> 1
    x2: 2, x3: 3, x5: 5
    i: 0, j: 0, k: 0
    
    loop 1..limit-1 'n [
        set h n min @[x2 x3 x5]
        if x2 = h\[n] [
            i: i + 1
            x2: 2 * h\[i]
        ]
        if x3 = h\[n] [
            j: j + 1
            x3: 3 * h\[j]
        ]
        if x5 = h\[n] [
            k: k + 1
            x5: 5 * h\[k]
        ]
    ]
    last h
]
print map 1..20 => hamming
print hamming 1691
print hamming 1000000
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

ATS

//
// How to compile:
// patscc -DATS_MEMALLOC_LIBC -o hamming hamming.dats
//
#include
"share/atspre_staload.hats"

fun
min3
(
  A: arrayref(int, 3)
) : natLt(3) = i where
{
  var x: int = A[0]
  var i: natLt(3) = 0
  val () = if A[1] < x then (x := A[1]; i := 1)
  val () = if A[2] < x then (x := A[2]; i := 2)
} (* end of [min3] *)

fun
hamming
{n:pos}
(
  n: int(n)
) : int = let
//
var A = @[int](2, 3, 5)
val A = $UNSAFE.cast{arrayref(int, 3)}(addr@A)
var I = @[int](1, 1, 1)
val I = $UNSAFE.cast{arrayref(int, 3)}(addr@I)
val H = arrayref_make_elt<int> (i2sz(succ(n)), 0)
val () = H[0] := 1
//
fun
loop{k:pos}
  (k: int(k)) : void =
(
//
if
k < n
then let
  val i = min3(A)
  val k =
  (
    if A[i] > H[k-1] then (H[k] := A[i]; k+1) else k
  ) : intBtwe(k, k+1)
  val ii = I[i]
  val () = I[i] := ii+1
  val ii = $UNSAFE.cast{natLte(n)}(ii)
  val () = if i = 0 then A[i] := 2*H[ii]
  val () = if i = 1 then A[i] := 3*H[ii]
  val () = if i = 2 then A[i] := 5*H[ii]
in
  loop(k)
end // end of [then]
else () // end of [else]
//
) (* end of [loop] *)
//
in
  loop (1); H[n-1]
end (* end of [hamming] *)

implement
main0 () =
{
val () =
loop(1) where
{
fun
loop
{n:pos}
(
  n: int(n)
) : void =
if
n <= 20
then let
  val () =
  println! ("hamming(",n,") = ", hamming(n))
in
  loop(n+1)
end // end of [then]
// end of [if]
} (* end of [val] *)
val n = 1691
val () = println! ("hamming(",n,") = ", hamming(n))
//
} (* end of [main0] *)
Output:
hamming(1) = 1
hamming(2) = 2
hamming(3) = 3
hamming(4) = 4
hamming(5) = 5
hamming(6) = 6
hamming(7) = 8
hamming(8) = 9
hamming(9) = 10
hamming(10) = 12
hamming(11) = 15
hamming(12) = 16
hamming(13) = 18
hamming(14) = 20
hamming(15) = 24
hamming(16) = 25
hamming(17) = 27
hamming(18) = 30
hamming(19) = 32
hamming(20) = 36
hamming(1691) = 2125764000

AutoHotkey

SetBatchLines, -1
Msgbox % hamming(1,20)
Msgbox % hamming(1690)
return

hamming(first,last=0)
{
	if (first < 1)
		ans=ERROR

	if (last = 0)
		last := first

	i:=0, j:=0, k:=0

	num1 := ceil((last * 20)**(1/3))
	num2 := ceil(num1 * ln(2)/ln(3))
	num3 := ceil(num1 * ln(2)/ln(5))

	loop
	{
		H := (2**i) * (3**j) * (5**k)
		if (H > 0)
			ans = %H%`n%ans%
		i++
		if (i > num1)
		{
			i=0
			j++
			if (j > num2)
			{
				j=0
				k++
			}
		}
		if (k > num3)
			break
	}
	Sort ans, N

	Loop, parse, ans, `n, `r 
	{
		if (A_index > last)
			break
		if (A_index < first)
			continue
		Output = %Output%`n%A_LoopField%
	}

	return Output
}

AWK

# syntax: gawk -M -f hamming_numbers.awk
BEGIN {
    for (i=1; i<=20; i++) {
      printf("%d ",hamming(i))
    }
    printf("\n1691: %d\n",hamming(1691))
    printf("\n1000000: %d\n",hamming(1000000))
    exit(0)
}
function hamming(limit,  h,i,j,k,n,x2,x3,x5) {
    h[0] = 1
    x2 = 2
    x3 = 3
    x5 = 5
    for (n=1; n<=limit; n++) {
      h[n] = min(x2,min(x3,x5))
      if (h[n] == x2) { x2 = 2 * h[++i] }
      if (h[n] == x3) { x3 = 3 * h[++j] }
      if (h[n] == x5) { x5 = 5 * h[++k] }
    }
    return(h[limit-1])
}
function min(x,y) {
    return((x < y) ? x : y)
}
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36
1691: 2125764000
1000000: 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

BASIC256

Translation of: FreeBASIC
print "The first 20 Hamming numbers are :"
for i = 1 to 20
    print Hamming(i);" ";
next i

print
print "H( 1691) = "; Hamming(1691)
end

function min(a, b)
    if a < b then return a else return b
end function

function Hamming(limit)
    dim h(1000000)

    h[0] = 1
    x2 = 2 : x3 = 3 : x5 = 5
    i  = 0 : j  = 0 : k  = 0
    for n = 1 to limit
        h[n]  = min(x2, min(x3, x5))
        if x2 = h[n] then i += 1: x2 = 2 *h[i]
        if x3 = h[n] then j += 1: x3 = 3 *h[j]
        if x5 = h[n] then k += 1: x5 = 5 *h[k]
    next n
    return h[limit -1]
end function


BBC BASIC

      @% = &1010
      FOR h% = 1 TO 20
        PRINT "H("; h% ") = "; FNhamming(h%)
      NEXT
      PRINT "H(1691) = "; FNhamming(1691)
      END
      
      DEF FNhamming(l%)
      LOCAL i%, j%, k%, n%, m, x2, x3, x5, h%()
      DIM h%(l%) : h%(0) = 1
      x2 = 2 : x3 = 3 : x5 = 5
      FOR n% = 1 TO l%-1
        m = x2
        IF m > x3 m = x3
        IF m > x5 m = x5
        h%(n%) = m
        IF m = x2 i% += 1 : x2 = 2 * h%(i%)
        IF m = x3 j% += 1 : x3 = 3 * h%(j%)
        IF m = x5 k% += 1 : x5 = 5 * h%(k%)
      NEXT
      = h%(l%-1)
Output:
H(1) = 1
H(2) = 2
H(3) = 3
H(4) = 4
H(5) = 5
H(6) = 6
H(7) = 8
H(8) = 9
H(9) = 10
H(10) = 12
H(11) = 15
H(12) = 16
H(13) = 18
H(14) = 20
H(15) = 24
H(16) = 25
H(17) = 27
H(18) = 30
H(19) = 32
H(20) = 36
H(1691) = 2125764000

Bc

cat hamming_numbers.bc
define min(x,y) {
 if (x < y) {
	return x
 } else {
	return y
 }
}
define hamming(limit) {
 i = 0
 j = 0
 k = 0
 h[0] = 1
 x2 = 2
 x3 = 3
 x5 = 5
 for (n=1; n<=limit; n++) {
  h[n] = min(x2,min(x3,x5))
  if (h[n] == x2) { x2 = 2 * h[++i] }
  if (h[n] == x3) { x3 = 3 * h[++j] }
  if (h[n] == x5) { x5 = 5 * h[++k] }
 }
 return (h[limit-1])
}
for (lab=1; lab<=20; lab++) {
 hamming(lab)
}
hamming(1691)
hamming(1000000)
quit
Output:
$ bc hamming_numbers.bc 
bc 1.06.95
Copyright 1991-1994, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2004, 2006 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
For details type `warranty'. 
1
2
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2125764000
51931278044838873608958984375000000000000000000000000000000000000000\
0000000000000000

Bracmat

Translation of: D
( ( hamming
  =   x2 x3 x5 n i j k min
    .   tbl$(h,!arg)        { This creates an array. Arrays are always global in Bracmat. }
      & 1:?(0$h)
      & 2:?x2
      & 3:?x3
      & 5:?x5
      & 0:?n:?i:?j:?k
      &   whl
        ' ( !n+1:<!arg:?n
          & !x2:?min
          & (!x3:<!min:?min|)
          & (!x5:<!min:?min|)
          & !min:?(!n$h)               { !n is index into array h }
          & (   !x2:!min
              & 2*!((1+!i:?i)$h):?x2
            |
            )
          & (   !x3:!min
              & 3*!((1+!j:?j)$h):?x3
            |
            )
          & (   !x5:!min
              & 5*!((1+!k:?k)$h):?x5
            |
            )
          )
      & !((!arg+-1)$h) (tbl$(h,0)&)    { We delete the array by setting its size to 0 }
  )
& 0:?I
& whl'(!I+1:~>20:?I&put$(hamming$!I " "))
& out$
& out$(hamming$1691)
& out$(hamming$1000000)
);
Output:
1  2  3  4  5  6  8  9  10  12  15  16  18  20  24  25  27  30  32  36
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Bruijn

Translation of: Haskell

n1000000 takes a very long time but eventually reduces to the correct result.

:import std/Combinator .
:import std/Number .
:import std/List .

merge y [[[∅?1 0 (1 [[2 [[go]]]])]]]
	go 3 <? 1 (3 : (6 2 4)) (1 : (6 5 0))

# classic version while avoiding duplicate generation
hammings-classic (+1) : (foldr u empty ((+2) : ((+3) : {}(+5))))
	u [[y [merge 1 ((mul 2) <$> ((+1) : 0))]]]

:test ((hammings-classic !! (+42)) =? (+162)) ([[1]])

# enumeration by a chain of folded merges (faster)
hammings-folded ([(0 ∘ a) ∘ (0 ∘ b)] (foldr merge1 empty)) $ c
	merge1 [[1 [[1 : (merge 0 2)]]]]
	a iterate (map (mul (+5)))
	b iterate (map (mul (+3)))
	c iterate (mul (+2)) (+1)

:test ((hammings-folded !! (+42)) =? (+162)) ([[1]])

# --- output ---

main [first-twenty : (n1691 : {}n1000000)]
	first-twenty take (+20) hammings-folded
	n1691 hammings-folded !! (+1690)
	n1000000 hammings-folded !! (+999999)

C

Using a min-heap to keep track of numbers. Does not handle big integers.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

typedef unsigned long long ham;

size_t alloc = 0, n = 1;
ham *q = 0;

void qpush(ham h)
{
	int i, j;
	if (alloc <= n) {
		alloc = alloc ? alloc * 2 : 16;
		q = realloc(q, sizeof(ham) * alloc);
	}

	for (i = n++; (j = i/2) && q[j] > h; q[i] = q[j], i = j);
	q[i] = h;
}

ham qpop()
{
	int i, j;
	ham r, t;
	/* outer loop for skipping duplicates */
	for (r = q[1]; n > 1 && r == q[1]; q[i] = t) {
		/* inner loop is the normal down heap routine */
		for (i = 1, t = q[--n]; (j = i * 2) < n;) {
			if (j + 1 < n && q[j] > q[j+1]) j++;
			if (t <= q[j]) break;
			q[i] = q[j], i = j;
		}
	}

	return r;
}

int main()
{
	int i;
	ham h;

	for (qpush(i = 1); i <= 1691; i++) {
		/* takes smallest value, and queue its multiples */
		h = qpop();
		qpush(h * 2);
		qpush(h * 3);
		qpush(h * 5);

		if (i <= 20 || i == 1691)
			printf("%6d: %llu\n", i, h);
	}

	/* free(q); */
	return 0;
}

Alternative

Standard algorithm. Numbers are stored as exponents of factors instead of big integers, while GMP is only used for display. It's much more efficient this way.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <math.h>
#include <gmp.h>

/* number of factors.  best be mutually prime -- duh. */
#define NK 3
#define MAX_HAM (1 << 24)
#define MAX_POW 1024
int n_hams = 0, idx[NK] = {0}, fac[] = { 2, 3, 5, 7, 11};

/*  k-smooth numbers are stored as their exponents of each factor;
    v is the log of the number, for convenience. */
typedef struct {
	int e[NK];
	double v;
} ham_t, *ham;

ham_t *hams, values[NK] = {{{0}, 0}};
double inc[NK][MAX_POW];

/* most of the time v can be just incremented, but eventually
 * floating point precision will bite us, so better recalculate */
inline
void _setv(ham x) {
	int i;
	for (x->v = 0, i = 0; i < NK; i++)
		x->v += inc[i][x->e[i]];
}

inline
int _eq(ham a, ham b) {
	int i;
	for (i = 0; i < NK && a->e[i] == b->e[i]; i++);

	return i == NK;
}

ham get_ham(int n)
{
	int i, ni;
	ham h;

	n--;
	while (n_hams < n) {
		for (ni = 0, i = 1; i < NK; i++)
			if (values[i].v < values[ni].v)
				ni = i;

		*(h = hams + ++n_hams) = values[ni];

		for (ni = 0; ni < NK; ni++) {
			if (! _eq(values + ni, h)) continue;
			values[ni] = hams[++idx[ni]];
			values[ni].e[ni]++;
			_setv(values + ni);
		}
	}

	return hams + n;
}

void show_ham(ham h)
{
	static mpz_t das_ham, tmp;
	int i;

 	mpz_init_set_ui(das_ham, 1);
	mpz_init_set_ui(tmp, 1);
	for (i = 0; i < NK; i++) {
		mpz_ui_pow_ui(tmp, fac[i], h->e[i]);
		mpz_mul(das_ham, das_ham, tmp);
	}
	gmp_printf("%Zu\n", das_ham);
}

int main()
{
	int i, j;
	hams = malloc(sizeof(ham_t) * MAX_HAM);

	for (i = 0; i < NK; i++) {
		values[i].e[i] = 1;
		inc[i][1] = log(fac[i]);
		_setv(values + i);

		for (j = 2; j < MAX_POW; j++)
			inc[i][j] = j * inc[i][1];
	}

	printf("     1,691: "); show_ham(get_ham(1691));
	printf(" 1,000,000: "); show_ham(get_ham(1e6));
	printf("10,000,000: "); show_ham(get_ham(1e7));
	return 0;
}
Output:
     1,691: 2125764000
 1,000,000: 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
10,000,000: 16244105063830431823239 ..<a gadzillion digits>.. 000000000000000000000

C#

Translation of: D
using System;
using System.Numerics;
using System.Linq;

namespace Hamming {

    class MainClass {

        public static BigInteger Hamming(int n) {
            BigInteger two = 2, three = 3, five = 5;
            var h = new BigInteger[n];
            h[0] = 1;
            BigInteger x2 = 2, x3 = 3, x5 = 5;
            int i = 0, j = 0, k = 0;
            
            for (int index = 1; index < n; index++) {
                h[index] = BigInteger.Min(x2, BigInteger.Min(x3, x5));
                if (h[index] == x2) x2 = two * h[++i];
                if (h[index] == x3) x3 = three * h[++j];
                if (h[index] == x5) x5 = five * h[++k];
            }
            return h[n - 1];
        }

        public static void Main(string[] args) {
            Console.WriteLine(string.Join(" ", Enumerable.Range(1, 20).ToList().Select(x => Hamming(x))));
            Console.WriteLine(Hamming(1691));
            Console.WriteLine(Hamming(1000000));
        }
    }
}
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Generic version for any set of numbers

The algorithm is similar to the one above.

using System;
using System.Numerics;
using System.Linq;

namespace Hamming {

    class MainClass {

        public static BigInteger[] Hamming(int n, int[] a) {
            var primes = a.Select(x => (BigInteger)x).ToArray();
            var values = a.Select(x => (BigInteger)x).ToArray();
            var indexes = new int[a.Length];
            var results = new BigInteger[n];
            results[0] = 1;
            for (int iter = 1; iter < n; iter++) {
                results[iter] = values[0];
                for (int p = 1; p < primes.Length; p++)
                    if (results[iter] > values[p])
                        results[iter] = values[p];
                for (int p = 0; p < primes.Length; p++)
                    if (results[iter] == values[p])
                        values[p] = primes[p] * results[++indexes[p]];
            }
            return results;
        }
        
        public static void Main(string[] args) {
            foreach (int[] primes in new int[][] { new int[] {2,3,5}, new int[] {2,3,5,7} }) {
                Console.WriteLine("{0}-Smooth:", primes.Last());
                Console.WriteLine(string.Join(" ", Hamming(20, primes)));
                Console.WriteLine(Hamming(1691, primes).Last());
                Console.WriteLine(Hamming(1000000, primes).Last());
                Console.WriteLine();
            }
        }
    }
}
Output:
5-Smooth:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

7-Smooth:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 14 15 16 18 20 21 24 25 27
3317760
4157409948433216829957008507500000000

Fast version

Like some of the other implementations on this page, this version represents each number as a list of exponents which would be applied to each prime number. So the number 60 would be represented as int[3] { 2, 1, 1 } which is interpreted as 2^2 * 3^1 * 5^1.

As often happens, optimizing for speed caused a marked increase in code size and complexity. Clearly the versions I wrote above are easier to read & understand. They were also much quicker to write. But the generic version above runs in 3+ seconds for the 1000000th 5-smooth number whereas this version does it in 0.35 seconds, 8-10 times faster.

I've tried to comment it as best I could, without bloating the code too much.

--Mike Lorenz

using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Numerics;

namespace HammingFast {

    class MainClass {

        private static int[] _primes = { 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29 };

        public static BigInteger Big(int[] exponents) {
            BigInteger val = 1;
            for (int i = 0; i < exponents.Length; i++)
                for (int e = 0; e < exponents[i]; e++)
                    val = val * _primes[i];
            return val;
        }

        public static int[] Hamming(int n, int nprimes) {
            var hammings  = new int[n, nprimes];                    // array of hamming #s we generate
            var hammlogs  = new double[n];                          // log values for above
            var primelogs = new double[nprimes];                    // pre-calculated prime log values
            var indexes   = new int[nprimes];                       // intermediate hamming values as indexes into hammings
            var listheads = new int[nprimes, nprimes];              // intermediate hamming list heads
            var listlogs  = new double[nprimes];                    // log values of list heads
            for (int p = 0; p < nprimes; p++) {
                listheads[p, p] = 1;                                // init list heads to prime values
                primelogs[p]    = Math.Log(_primes[p]);             // pre-calc prime log values
                listlogs[p]     = Math.Log(_primes[p]);             // init list head log values
            }
            for (int iter = 1; iter < n; iter++) {
                int min = 0;                                        // find index of min item in list heads
                for (int p = 1; p < nprimes; p++)
                    if (listlogs[p] < listlogs[min])
                        min = p;
                hammlogs[iter] = listlogs[min];                     // that's the next hamming number
                for (int i = 0; i < nprimes; i++)
                    hammings[iter, i] = listheads[min, i];
                for (int p = 0; p < nprimes; p++) {                 // update each list head if it matches new value
                    bool equal = true;                              // test each exponent to see if number matches
                    for (int i = 0; i < nprimes; i++) {
                        if (hammings[iter, i] != listheads[p, i]) {
                            equal = false;
                            break;
                        }
                    }
                    if (equal) {                                    // if it matches...
                        int x = ++indexes[p];                       // set index to next hamming number
                        for (int i = 0; i < nprimes; i++)           // copy each hamming exponent
                            listheads[p, i] = hammings[x, i];
                        listheads[p, p] += 1;                       // increment exponent = mult by prime
                        listlogs[p] = hammlogs[x] + primelogs[p];   // add log(prime) to log(value) = mult by prime
                    }
                }
            }

            var result = new int[nprimes];
            for (int i = 0; i < nprimes; i++)
                result[i] = hammings[n - 1, i];
            return result;
        }

        public static void Main(string[] args) {
            foreach (int np in new int[] { 3, 4, 5 }) {
                Console.WriteLine("{0}-Smooth:", _primes[np - 1]);
                Console.WriteLine(string.Join(" ", Enumerable.Range(1, 20).Select(x => Big(Hamming(x, np)))));
                Console.WriteLine(Big(Hamming(1691, np)));
                Console.WriteLine(Big(Hamming(1000000, np)));
                Console.WriteLine();
            }
        }
    }
}
Output:
5-Smooth:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

7-Smooth:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 14 15 16 18 20 21 24 25 27
3317760
4157409948433216829957008507500000000

11-Smooth:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 15 16 18 20 21 22 24
296352
561912530929780078125000

C# Enumerator Version

I wanted to fix the enumerator (old) version, as it wasn't working. It became a bit of an obsession... after a few iterations I came up with the following, which is the fastest C# version on my computer - your mileage may vary. It combines the speed of the Log method; Log(2)+Log(3)=Log(2*3) to help determine which is the next one to use. Then I have added some logic (using the series property) to ensure that exponent sets are never duplicated - which speeds the calculations up a bit.... Adding this trick to the Fast Version will probably result in the fastest version, but I'll leave that to someone else to implement. Finally it's all enumerated through a crazy one-way-linked-list-type-structure that only exists as long as the enumerator and is left up to the garbage collector to remove the bits no longer needed... I hope it's commented enough... follow it if you dare!

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Numerics;

namespace HammingTest
{
    class HammingNode
    {
        public double log;
        public int[] exponents;
        public HammingNode next;
        public int series;
    }
    
    class HammingListEnumerator : IEnumerable<BigInteger>
    {
        private int[] primes;
        private double[] primelogs;
        private HammingNode next;
        private HammingNode[] values;
        private HammingNode[] indexes;

        public HammingListEnumerator(IEnumerable<int> seeds)
        {
            // Ensure our seeds are properly ordered, and generate their log values
            primes = seeds.OrderBy(x => x).ToArray();
            primelogs = primes.Select(x => Math.Log10(x)).ToArray();
            // Start at 1 (log(1)=0, exponents are all 0, series = none)
            next = new HammingNode { log = 0, exponents = new int[primes.Length], series = primes.Length };
            // Set all exponent sequences to the start, and calculate the first value for each exponent
            indexes = new HammingNode[primes.Length];
            values = new HammingNode[primes.Length];
            for(int i = 0; i < primes.Length; ++i)
            {
                indexes[i] = next;
                values[i] = AddExponent(next, i);
            }
        }

        // Make a copy of a node, and increment the specified exponent value
        private HammingNode AddExponent(HammingNode node, int i)
        {
            HammingNode ret = new HammingNode { log = node.log + primelogs[i], exponents = (int[])node.exponents.Clone(), series = i };
            ++ret.exponents[i];
            return ret;
        }

        private void GetNext()
        {
            // Find which exponent value is the lowest
            int min = 0;
            for(int i = 1; i < values.Length; ++i)
                if(values[i].log < values[min].log)
                    min = i;
            
            // Add it to the end of the 'list', and move to it
            next.next = values[min];
            next = values[min];

            // Find the next node in an allowed sequence (skip those that would be duplicates) 
            HammingNode val = indexes[min].next;
            while(val.series < min)
                val = val.next;

            // Keep the current index, and calculate the next value in the series for that exponent
            indexes[min] = val;
            values[min] = AddExponent(val, min);
        }

        // Skip values without having to calculate the BigInteger value from the exponents
        public HammingListEnumerator Skip(int count)
        {
            for(int i = count; i > 0; --i)
                GetNext();

            return this;
        }

        // Calculate the BigInteger value from the exponents
        internal BigInteger ValueOf(HammingNode n)
        {
            BigInteger val = 1;
            for(int i = 0; i < n.exponents.Length; ++i)
                for(int e = 0; e < n.exponents[i]; e++)
                    val = val * primes[i];
            return val;
        }

        public IEnumerator<BigInteger> GetEnumerator()
        {
            while(true)
            {
                yield return ValueOf(next);
                GetNext();
            }
        }

        System.Collections.IEnumerator System.Collections.IEnumerable.GetEnumerator()
        {
            return this.GetEnumerator();
        }
    }

    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            foreach(int[] primes in new int[][] { 
                new int[] { 2, 3, 5 },
                new int[] { 2, 3, 5, 7 },
                new int[] { 2, 3, 5, 7, 9}})
            {
                HammingListEnumerator hammings = new HammingListEnumerator(primes);
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("{0}-Smooth:", primes.Last());
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(String.Join(" ", hammings.Take(20).ToArray()));
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(hammings.Skip(1691 - 20).First());
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine(hammings.Skip(1000000 - 1691).First());
                System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("");
            }
        }
    }
}
Output:
5-Smooth:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

7-Smooth:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 14 15 16 18 20 21 24 25 27
3317760
4157409948433216829957008507500000000

11-Smooth:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 15 16 18 20 21 22 24
296352
561912530929780078125000

Alternate Generic Enumerating version

YMMV, but unlike the author of the above code, I found the above version to be much slower on my machine than the "Generic version". The following version is actually just a little slower than the Generic version but uses much less memory due to avoiding duplicates and only keeping in memory those "lazy list" streams necessary for calculation from 1/5 of the current range to 1/2 (for Smooth-5 numbers), and not successive values in those ranges but only the values the are the multiples of previous ranges. Like the Haskell code from which it is translated, the head of the streams is not retained so can be garbage collected when no longer necessary and it is recommended that the primes be processed in reverse order so that the least dense streams are processed first for slightly less memory use and operations.

It also shows that one can use somewhat functional programming techniques in C#.

The class implements its own partial version of a lazy list using the Lazy class and uses lambda closures for the recursive use of the successive streams to avoid stack use. It uses Aggregate to implement the Haskell "foldl" function. The code demonstrates that even though C# is primarily imperative in paradigm, with its ability to implement closures using delegates/lambdas, it can express some algorithms such as this mostly functionally.

It isn't nearly as fast as a Haskell, Scala or even Clojure and Scheme (GambitC) versions of this algorithm, being about five times slower is primarily due to its use of many small heap based instances of classes, both for the LazyList's and for closures (implemented using at least one class to hold the captured free variables) and the inefficiency of DotNet's allocation and garbage collection of many small instance objects (although about twice as fast as F#'s implementation, whose closures must require even more small object instances); it seems Haskell and the (Java) JVM are much more efficient at doing these allocations/garbage collections for many small objects. The slower speed to a relatively minor extent is also due to less efficient BigInteger operations:

Translation of: Haskell
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Numerics;

namespace Hamming {

  class Hammings : IEnumerable<BigInteger> {
    private class LazyList<T> {
      public T v; public Lazy<LazyList<T>> cont;
      public LazyList(T v, Lazy<LazyList<T>> cont) {
        this.v = v; this.cont = cont;
      }
    }
    private uint[] primes;
    private Hammings() { } // must have an argument!!!
    public Hammings(uint[] prms) { this.primes = prms; }
    private LazyList<BigInteger> merge(LazyList<BigInteger> xs,
                                       LazyList<BigInteger> ys) {
      if (xs == null) return ys; else {
        var x = xs.v; var y = ys.v;
        if (BigInteger.Compare(x, y) < 0) {
          var cont = new Lazy<LazyList<BigInteger>>(() =>
                       merge(xs.cont.Value, ys));
          return new LazyList<BigInteger>(x, cont);
        }
        else {
          var cont = new Lazy<LazyList<BigInteger>>(() =>
                       merge(xs, ys.cont.Value));
          return new LazyList<BigInteger>(y, cont);
        }
      }
    }
    private LazyList<BigInteger> llmult(uint mltplr,
                                        LazyList<BigInteger> ll) {      
      return new LazyList<BigInteger>(mltplr * ll.v,
                                      new Lazy<LazyList<BigInteger>>(() =>
                                        llmult(mltplr, ll.cont.Value)));
    }
    public IEnumerator<BigInteger> GetEnumerator() {
      Func<LazyList<BigInteger>,uint,LazyList<BigInteger>> u =
        (acc, p) => { LazyList<BigInteger> r = null;
                      var cont = new Lazy<LazyList<BigInteger>>(() => r);
                      r = new LazyList<BigInteger>(1, cont);
                      r = this.merge(acc, llmult(p, r));
                      return r; };
      yield return 1;
      for (var stt = primes.Aggregate(null, u); ; stt = stt.cont.Value)
        yield return stt.v;
    }
    IEnumerator IEnumerable.GetEnumerator() {
      return this.GetEnumerator();
    }
  }

  class Program {
    static void Main(string[] args) {
      Console.WriteLine("Calculates the Hamming sequence of numbers.\r\n");

      var primes = new uint[] { 5, 3, 2 };
      Console.WriteLine(String.Join(" ", (new Hammings(primes)).Take(20).ToArray()));
      Console.WriteLine((new Hammings(primes)).ElementAt(1691 - 1));

      var n = 1000000;

      var elpsd = -DateTime.Now.Ticks;

      var num = (new Hammings(primes)).ElementAt(n - 1);

      elpsd += DateTime.Now.Ticks;

      Console.WriteLine(num);
      Console.WriteLine("The {0}th hamming number took {1} milliseconds", n, elpsd / 10000);

      Console.Write("\r\nPress any key to exit:");
      Console.ReadKey(true);
      Console.WriteLine();
    }
  }
}

Fast enumerating logarithmic version

The so-called "fast" generic version above isn't really all that fast due to all the extra array accesses required by the generic implementation and that it doesn't avoid duplicates as the above functional code does avoid. It also uses a lot of memory as it has arrays that are the size of the range for which the Hamming numbers are calculated.

The following code eliminates or reduces all of those problems by being non-generic, eliminating duplicate calculations, saving memory by "draining" the growable List's used in blocks as back pointer indexes are used (thus using memory at the same rate as the functional version), thus avoiding excessive allocations/garbage collections; it also is enumerates through the Hamming numbers although that comes at a slight cost in overhead function calls:

Translation of: Nim
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Numerics;

class HammingsLogArr : IEnumerable<Tuple<uint, uint, uint>> {
  public static BigInteger trival(Tuple<uint, uint, uint> tpl) {
    BigInteger rslt = 1;
    for (var i = 0; i < tpl.Item1; ++i) rslt *= 2;
    for (var i = 0; i < tpl.Item2; ++i) rslt *= 3;
    for (var i = 0; i < tpl.Item3; ++i) rslt *= 5;
    return rslt;
  }
  private const double lb3 = 1.5849625007211561814537389439478; // Math.Log(3) / Math.Log(2);
  private const double lb5 = 2.3219280948873623478703194294894; // Math.Log(5) / Math.Log(2);
  private struct logrep {
    public double lg;
    public uint x2, x3, x5;
    public logrep(double lg, uint x, uint y, uint z) {
      this.lg = lg; this.x2 = x; this.x3 = y; this.x5 = z;
    }
    public logrep mul2() {
      return new logrep (this.lg + 1.0, this.x2 + 1, this.x3, this.x5);
    }
    public logrep mul3() {
      return new logrep(this.lg + lb3, this.x2, this.x3 + 1, this.x5);
    }
    public logrep mul5() {
      return new logrep(this.lg + lb5, this.x2, this.x3, this.x5 + 1);
    }
  }
  public IEnumerator<Tuple<uint, uint, uint>> GetEnumerator() {
    var one = new logrep();
    var s2 = new List<logrep>(); var s3 = new List<logrep>();
    s2.Add(one); s3.Add(one.mul3());
    var s5 = one.mul5(); var mrg = one.mul3();
    var s2hdi = 0; var s3hdi = 0;
    while (true) {
      if (s2hdi >= s2.Count) { s2.RemoveRange(0, s2hdi); s2hdi = 0; } // assume capacity stays the same...
      var v = s2[s2hdi];
      if ( v.lg < mrg.lg) { s2.Add(v.mul2()); s2hdi++; }
      else {
        if (s3hdi >= s3.Count) { s3.RemoveRange(0, s3hdi); s3hdi = 0; }
        v = mrg; s2.Add(v.mul2()); s3.Add(v.mul3());
        s3hdi++; var chkv = s3[s3hdi];
        if (chkv.lg < s5.lg) { mrg = chkv; }
        else { mrg = s5; s5 = s5.mul5(); s3hdi--; }
      }
      yield return Tuple.Create(v.x2, v.x3, v.x5);
    }
  }
  IEnumerator IEnumerable.GetEnumerator() {
    return this.GetEnumerator();
  }
}

class Program {
  static void Main(string[] args) {
    Console.WriteLine(String.Join(" ", (new HammingsLogArr()).Take(20)
                                        .Select(t => HammingsLogArr.trival(t))
                                        .ToArray()));
    Console.WriteLine(HammingsLogArr.trival((new HammingsLogArr()).ElementAt((int)1691 - 1)));

    var n = 1000000UL;
    var elpsd = -DateTime.Now.Ticks;

    var rslt = (new HammingsLogArr()).ElementAt((int)n - 1);

    elpsd += DateTime.Now.Ticks;

    Console.WriteLine("2^{0} times 3^{1} times 5^{2}", rslt.Item1, rslt.Item2, rslt.Item3);
    var lgrthm = Math.Log10(2.0) * ((double)rslt.Item1 +
                  ((double)rslt.Item2 * Math.Log(3.0) + (double)rslt.Item3 * Math.Log(5.0)) / Math.Log(2.0));
    var pwr = Math.Floor(lgrthm); var mntsa = Math.Pow(10.0, lgrthm - pwr);
    Console.WriteLine("Approximately:  {0}E+{1}", mntsa, pwr);
    var s = HammingsLogArr.trival(rslt).ToString();
    var lngth = s.Length;
    Console.WriteLine("Decimal digits:  {0}", lngth);
    if (lngth <= 10000) {
      var i = 0;
      for (; i < lngth - 100; i += 100) Console.WriteLine(s.Substring(i, 100));
      Console.WriteLine(s.Substring(i));
    }
    Console.WriteLine("The {0}th hamming number took {1} milliseconds", n, elpsd / 10000);

    Console.Write("\r\nPress any key to exit:");
    Console.ReadKey(true);
    Console.WriteLine();
  }
}
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36
2125764000
2^55 times 3^47 times 5^64
Approximately:  5.19312780448414E+83
Decimal digits:  84
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
The 1000000th hamming number took 55 milliseconds

The above code is about 30 times faster than the functional code due to both eliminating the lambda closures that were the main problem with that code as well as eliminating the BigInteger operations. It has about O(n) empirical performance and can find the billionth Hamming number in about 60 seconds.

Extremely fast non-enumerating version calculating the error band

The above code is about as fast as one can go generating sequences; however, if one is willing to forego sequences and just calculate the nth Hamming number (again), then some reading on the relationship between the size of numbers to the sequence numbers is helpful (Wikipedia: regular number). One finds that there is a very distinct relationship and that it quite quickly reduces to quite a small error band proportional to the log of the output value for larger ranges. Thus, the following code just scans for logarithmic representations to insert into a sequence for this top error band and extracts the correct nth representation from that band. It reduces time complexity to O(n^(2/3)) from O(n) for the sequence versions, but even more amazingly, reduces memory requirements to O(n^(1/3)) from O(n^(2/3)) and thus makes it possible to calculate very large values in the sequence on common personal computers. The code is as follows:

Translation of: Nim
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Numerics;

static class NthHamming {
  public static BigInteger trival(Tuple<uint, uint, uint> tpl) {
    BigInteger rslt = 1;
    for (var i = 0; i < tpl.Item1; ++i) rslt *= 2;
    for (var i = 0; i < tpl.Item2; ++i) rslt *= 3;
    for (var i = 0; i < tpl.Item3; ++i) rslt *= 5;
    return rslt;
  }

  private struct logrep {
    public uint x2, x3, x5;
    public double lg;
    public logrep(uint x, uint y, uint z, double lg) {
      this.x2 = x; this.x3 = y; this.x5 = z; this.lg = lg;
    }
  }

  private const double lb3 = 1.5849625007211561814537389439478; // Math.Log(3) / Math.Log(2);
  private const double lb5 = 2.3219280948873623478703194294894; // Math.Log(5) / Math.Log(2);
  private const double fctr = 6.0 * lb3 * lb5;
  private const double crctn = 2.4534452978042592646620291867186; // Math.Log(Math.sqrt(30.0)) / Math.Log(2.0)

  public static Tuple<uint, uint, uint> findNth(UInt64 n) {
    if (n < 1) throw new Exception("NthHamming.findNth:  argument must be > 0!");
    if (n < 2) return Tuple.Create(0u, 0u, 0u); // trivial case for argument of one
    var lgest = Math.Pow(fctr * (double)n, 1.0/3.0) - crctn; // from WP formula
    var frctn = (n < 1000000000) ? 0.509 : 0.105;
    var lghi = Math.Pow(fctr * ((double)n + frctn * lgest), 1.0/3.0) - crctn;
    var lglo = 2.0 * lgest - lghi; // upper and lower bound of upper "band"
    var count = 0UL; // need 64 bit precision in case...
    var bnd = new List<logrep>();
    for (uint k = 0, klmt = (uint)(lghi / lb5) + 1; k < klmt; ++k) {
      var p = (double)k * lb5;
      for (uint j = 0, jlmt = (uint)((lghi - p) / lb3) + 1; j < jlmt; ++j) {
        var q = p + (double)j * lb3;
        var ir = lghi - q;
        var lg = q + Math.Floor(ir); // current log2 value (estimated)
        count += (ulong)ir + 1;
        if (lg >= lglo) bnd.Add(new logrep((UInt32)ir, j, k, lg));
      }
    }
    if (n > count) throw new Exception("NthHamming.findNth:  band high estimate is too low!");
    var ndx = (int)(count - n);
    if (ndx >= bnd.Count) throw new Exception("NthHamming.findNth:  band low estimate is too high!");
    bnd.Sort((a, b) => (b.lg < a.lg) ? -1 : 1); // sort in decending order

    var rslt = bnd[ndx];
    return Tuple.Create(rslt.x2, rslt.x3, rslt.x5);
  }
}

class Program {
  static void Main(string[] args) {
    Console.WriteLine(String.Join(" ", Enumerable.Range(1,20).Select(i =>
                                          NthHamming.trival(NthHamming.findNth((ulong)i))).ToArray()));
    Console.WriteLine(NthHamming.trival((new HammingsLogArr()).ElementAt(1691 - 1)));

    var n = 1000000000000UL;
    var elpsd = -DateTime.Now.Ticks;

    var rslt = NthHamming.findNth(n);

    elpsd += DateTime.Now.Ticks;

    Console.WriteLine("2^{0} times 3^{1} times 5^{2}", rslt.Item1, rslt.Item2, rslt.Item3);
    var lgrthm = Math.Log10(2.0) * ((double)rslt.Item1 +
                  ((double)rslt.Item2 * Math.Log(3.0) + (double)rslt.Item3 * Math.Log(5.0)) / Math.Log(2.0));
    var pwr = Math.Floor(lgrthm); var mntsa = Math.Pow(10.0, lgrthm - pwr);
    Console.WriteLine("Approximately:  {0}E+{1}", mntsa, pwr);
    var s = HammingsLogArr.trival(rslt).ToString();
    var lngth = s.Length;
    Console.WriteLine("Decimal digits:  {0}", lngth);
    if (lngth <= 10000) {
      var i = 0;
      for (; i < lngth - 100; i += 100) Console.WriteLine(s.Substring(i, 100));
      Console.WriteLine(s.Substring(i));
    }
    Console.WriteLine("The {0}th hamming number took {1} milliseconds", n, elpsd / 10000);

    Console.Write("\r\nPress any key to exit:");
    Console.ReadKey(true);
    Console.WriteLine();
  }
}

The output is the same as above except that the time is too small to be measured. The billionth number in the sequence can be calculated in just about 10 milliseconds, the trillionth in about one second, the thousand trillionth in about a hundred seconds, and it should be possible to calculate the 10^19th value in less than a day (untested) on common personal computers. The (2^64 - 1)th value (18446744073709551615) cannot be calculated due to a slight overflow problem as it approaches that limit.

C++

C++11 For Each Generator

#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
// Hamming like sequences Generator
//
// Nigel Galloway. August 13th., 2012
//
class Ham {
private:
	std::vector<unsigned int> _H, _hp, _hv, _x;
public:
	bool operator!=(const Ham& other) const {return true;}
	Ham begin() const {return *this;}
        Ham end() const {return *this;}
	unsigned int operator*() const {return _x.back();}
	Ham(const std::vector<unsigned int> &pfs):_H(pfs),_hp(pfs.size(),0),_hv({pfs}),_x({1}){}
	const Ham& operator++() {
	  for (int i=0; i<_H.size(); i++) for (;_hv[i]<=_x.back();_hv[i]=_x[++_hp[i]]*_H[i]);
	  _x.push_back(_hv[0]);
	  for (int i=1; i<_H.size(); i++) if (_hv[i]<_x.back()) _x.back()=_hv[i];
	  return *this;
	}
};

5-Smooth

int main() {
  int count = 1;
  for (unsigned int i : Ham({2,3,5})) {
    if (count <= 62) std::cout << i << ' ';
    if (count++ == 1691) {
      std::cout << "\nThe one thousand six hundred and ninety first Hamming Number is " << i << std::endl;
      break;
    }
  }
  return 0;
}

Produces:

1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 40 45 48 50 54 60 64 72 75 80 81 90 96 100 108 120 125 128 135 144 150 160 162 180 192 200 216 225 240 243 250 256 270 288 300 320 324 360 375 384 400 405
The one thousand six hundred and ninety first Hamming Number is 2125764000

7-Smooth

int main() {
  int count = 1;
  for (unsigned int i : Ham({2,3,5,7})) {
    std::cout << i << ' ';
    if (count++ == 64) break;
  }
  std::cout << std::endl;
  return 0;
}

Produces:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 14 15 16 18 20 21 24 25 27 28 30 32 35 36 40 42 45 48 49 50 54 56 60 63 64 70 72 75 80 81 84 90 96 98 100 105 108 112 120 125 126 128 135 140 144 147 150 160 162 168 175 180 189

Avoiding Duplicates with Functional Code

If converted to use multi-precision integers (via GMP, as in this code), the above code is slower than it needs to be due to several reasons: 1) It uses the an adaptation of the original Dijkstra's algorithm, which is somewhat slower due to repeated calculations (2 time 3, 3 times 2, etc.), 2) the generator is written generally to handle any series of multiples, and 3) for finding the nth Hamming number, the code as `for (auto hmg : Ham({5, 3, 2})` means that there is a copy of the sometimes very large multi-precision number which can consume more time than the actual computation. The following code isn't particularly fast due to other reasons that will be discussed, but avoids duplication of calculations by a modification of the algorithm; it is written functionally as a LazyList (which could easily also have iteration abilities added, with the a basic LazyList type defined here since there is no library available:

Translation of: Haskell
Works with: C++11
#include <chrono>
#include <iostream>
#include <gmpxx.h>
#include <functional>
#include <memory>

template<class T>
class Lazy {
public:
	T _v;
private:
	std::function<T()> _f;

public:
	explicit Lazy(std::function<T()> thnk)
		: _v(T()), _f(thnk) {};
	T value() { // not thread safe!
		if (this->_f != nullptr) {
			this->_v = this->_f();
			this->_f = nullptr;
		}
		return this->_v;
	}
};

template<class T>
class LazyList {
public:
	T head;
	std::shared_ptr<Lazy<LazyList<T>>> tail;
	LazyList(): head(T()) {} // only used in initializing Lazy...
	LazyList(T head, std::function<LazyList<T>()> thnk)
		: head(head), tail(std::make_shared<Lazy<LazyList<T>>>(thnk)) {}
	// default Copy/Move constructors and assignment operators seem to work well enough
	bool isEmpty() { return this->tail == nullptr; }
};

typedef std::shared_ptr<mpz_class> PBI;
typedef LazyList<PBI> LL;
typedef std::function<LL(LL)> FLL2LL;

LL merge(LL a, LL b) {
	auto ha = a.head; auto hb = b.head;
	if (*ha < *hb) {
		return LL(ha, [=]() { return merge(a.tail->value(), b); });
	} else {
		return LL(hb, [=]() { return merge(a, b.tail->value()); });
	}
}

LL smult(int m, LL s) {
	const auto im = mpz_class(m);
	const auto psmlt =
			std::make_shared<FLL2LL>([](LL ss) { return ss; });
	*psmlt = [=](LL ss) {
		return LL(std::make_shared<mpz_class>(*ss.head * im),
				  [=]() { return (*psmlt)(ss.tail->value()); });
	};
	return (*psmlt)(s); // worker wrapper pattern with recursive closure as worker...
}

LL u(LL s, int n) {
	const auto r = std::make_shared<LL>(LL()); // interior mutable...
	*r = smult(n, LL(std::make_shared<mpz_class>(1), [=]() { return *r; }));
	if (!s.isEmpty()) { *r = merge(s, *r); }
	return *r;
}

LL hammings() {
	auto r = LL();
	for (auto pn : std::vector<int>({5, 3, 2})) {
		r = u(r, pn);
	}
	return LL(std::make_shared<mpz_class>(1), [=]() { return r; });
}

int main() {
	auto hmgs = hammings();
	for (auto i = 0; i < 20; ++i) {
		std::cout << *hmgs.head << " ";
		hmgs = hmgs.tail->value();
	}
	std::cout << "\n";

	hmgs = hammings();
	for (auto i = 1; i < 1691; ++i) hmgs = hmgs.tail->value();
	std::cout << *hmgs.head << "\n";

	auto start = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
	hmgs = hammings();
	for (auto i = 1; i < 1000000; ++i) hmgs = hmgs.tail->value();
	auto stop = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();

	auto ms = std::chrono::duration_cast<std::chrono::milliseconds>(stop - start);
	std::cout << *hmgs.head << " in " << ms.count() << "milliseconds.\n";
}
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 in 1079 milliseconds.

Note that the repeat loop to increment to the desired value is written so as not to oopy unnecessary Hamming values, unlike the use of the first Generator class.

This shows that one can program functionally in C++, but the performance is many times slower than a language more suitable for functional paradigms such as Haskell or even Kotlin; this is likely due to the cost of memory allocation with (multi-threading-safe) reference counting and that the memory system isn't tuned to many small allocations/de-allocations such as are generally necessary with functional programming. One can easily see how to adapt this algorithm to make it work for the general case by just having an argument which is an vector of the required multipliers used in the `hammings` function.

There is another problem in using languages such as this that do not have cyclic reference breaking capbilities: the code will leak memory due to the cyclic memory reference cycles and it is perhaps impossible to change the function algorithm to manually free, even though the code uses "shared"/reference counting facilities.

Avoiding Duplicates with Imperative Code

To show that it is the execution time for the functional LazyList that is taking the time, here is the same algorithm implemented imperatively using vectors, also avoiding duplicate calculations; it is not written as a general function for any set of multipliers as the extra vector addressing takes some extra time; again, it minimizes copying of values:

Translation of: Rust
Works with: C++11
#include <chrono>
#include <iostream>
#include <vector>
#include <gmpxx.h>

class Hammings {
private:
	const mpz_class _two = 2, _three = 3, _five = 5;
	std::vector<mpz_class> _m = {}, _h = {1};
	mpz_class _x5 = 5, _x53 = 9, _mrg = 3, _x532 = 2;
	int _i = 1, _j = 0;
public:
	Hammings() {_m.reserve(65536); _h.reserve(65536); };
	bool operator!=(const Hammings& other) const { return true; }
	Hammings begin() const { return *this; }
	Hammings end() const { return *this; }
	mpz_class operator*() { return _h.back(); }
	const Hammings& operator++() {
		if (_i > _h.capacity() / 2) {
			_h.erase(_h.begin(), _h.begin() + _i);
			_i = 0;
		}
		if (_x532 < _mrg) {
			_h.push_back(_x532);
			_x532 = _h[_i++] * _two;
		} else {
			_h.push_back(_mrg);
			if (_x53 < _x5) {
				_mrg = _x53;
				_x53 = _m[_j++] * _three;
			} else {
				_mrg = _x5;
				_x5 = _x5 * _five;
			}
			if (_j > _m.capacity() / 2) {
				_m.erase(_m.begin(), _m.begin() + _j);
				_j = 0;
			}
			_m.push_back(_mrg);
		}
		return *this;
	}
};

int main() {
	auto cnt = 1;
	for (auto hmg : Hammings()) {
		if (cnt <= 20) std::cout << hmg << " ";
		if (cnt == 20) std::cout << "\n";
		if (cnt++ >= 1691) {
			std::cout << hmg << "\n";
			break;
		}
	}

	auto start = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
	hmgs = hammings();
	auto&& hmgitr = Hammings();
	for (auto i = 1; i < 1000000; ++i) ++hmgitr;
	auto stop = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();

	auto ms = std::chrono::duration_cast<std::chrono::milliseconds>(stop - start);
	std::cout << *hmgitr << " in " << ms.count() << "milliseconds.\n";
}
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 in 79 milliseconds.

This code takes about the same amount of time as Haskell for the functional algorithm calculating multi-precision values (also uses GMP; not including the list processing time), but greatly reduces the C++ processing time compared to the functional version due to the use of imperative code and vectors.

Chapel

Chapel is by no means a functional language although it has some Higher Order Functional (HOF) concepts such as zippering, scanning, and reducing of iterations, it lacks closures (functions that can capture variable bindings from the enclosing scope(s)) even though it has first class functions that can be passed as values and lambdas (anonymous functions), nor is tail-call-optimization of recursive functions and iterators guarantied. However, now that Chapel supports class fields that can be of any type including references to other classes of any storage type, we can emulate closures using shared classes (shared classes are automatically de-allocated when they have no more references, currently using reference counting). The following code does that for the non-duplicating version of the sequence of Hamming numbers:

Translation of: Haskell
Hamming_numbers#Avoiding_generation_of_duplicates
Works with: 1.24.1 version or greater, maybe lesser
use BigInteger; use Time;

// Chapel doesn't have closure functions that can capture variables from
// outside scope, so we use a class to emulate them for this special case;
// the member fields mult, mrglst, and mltlst, emulate "captured" variables
// that would normally be captured by the `next` continuation closure...
class HammingsList {
    const head: bigint;
    const mult: uint(8);
    var mrglst: shared HammingsList?;
    var mltlst: shared HammingsList?;
    var tail: shared HammingsList? = nil;
    proc init(hd: bigint, mlt: uint(8), mrgl: shared HammingsList?,
                                        mltl: shared HammingsList?) {
        head = hd; mult = mlt; mrglst = mrgl; mltlst = mltl; }
    proc next(): shared HammingsList {
        if tail != nil then return tail: shared HammingsList;
        const nhd: bigint = mltlst!.head * mult;
        if mrglst == nil then {
            tail = new shared HammingsList(nhd, mult,
                                           nil: shared HammingsList?,
                                           nil: shared HammingsList?);
            mltlst = mltlst!.next();
            tail!.mltlst <=> mltlst;
        }
        else {
            if mrglst!.head < nhd then {
                tail = new shared HammingsList(mrglst!.head, mult,
                                               nil: shared HammingsList?,
                                               nil: shared HammingsList?);
                mrglst = mrglst!.next(); mrglst <=> tail!.mrglst;
                mltlst <=> tail!.mltlst;
            }
            else {
                tail = new shared HammingsList(nhd, mult,
                                               nil: shared HammingsList?,
                                               nil: shared HammingsList?);
                mltlst = mltlst!.next(); mltlst <=> tail!.mltlst;
                mrglst <=> tail!.mrglst;
            }
        }
        return tail: shared HammingsList;
    }
}

proc u(n: uint(8), s: shared HammingsList?): shared HammingsList {
    var r = new shared HammingsList(1: bigint, n, s,
                                    nil: shared HammingsList?);
    r.mltlst = r; // lazy recursion!
    return r.next();
}

iter hammings(): bigint {
    var nxt: shared HammingsList? = nil: shared HammingsList?;
    const mlts: [ 0 .. 2 ] int = [ 5, 3, 2 ];
    for m in mlts do nxt = u(m: uint(8), nxt);
    yield 1 : bigint;
    while true { yield nxt!.head; nxt = nxt!.next(); }
}

write("The first 20 Hamming numbers are: ");
var cnt: int = 0;
for h in hammings() { write(" ", h); cnt += 1; if cnt >= 20 then break; }
write(".\nThe 1691st Hamming number is ");
cnt = 0;
for h in hammings() { cnt += 1; if cnt < 1691 then continue; write(h); break; }
writeln(".\nThe millionth Hamming number is ");
var timer: Timer; timer.start(); cnt = 0;
for h in hammings() { cnt += 1; if cnt < 1000000 then continue; write(h); break; }
timer.stop(); writeln(".\nThis last took ",
                      timer.elapsed(TimeUnits.milliseconds), " milliseconds.");
Output:
The first 20 Hamming numbers are:  1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36.
The 1691st Hamming number is 2125764000.
The millionth Hamming number is 
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000.
This last took 224.652 milliseconds.

The above time is as run on an Intel Skylake i5-6500 at 3.6 GHz (turbo, single-threaded).

It isn't as fast as the following versions due to the many memory allocations and de-allocations as for typically functional forms of code, but it is in the order of speed of many actual functional languages and faster than many, depending on how well their memory management is adapted for this programming paradigm and also because the "bigint" implementation isn't as fast as the "gmp" package used by many languages for multi-precision integer caluclations.

This shows that the functional forms of most algorithms can be translated into Chapel, although some concessions need to be made for the functional facilities that Chapel doesn't have. However, there is one major problem in using languages such as this for functional algorithms when such languages do not have cyclic reference breaking capabilities: the code will leak memory due to the cyclic memory reference cycles and it is perhaps impossible to change the functional algorithm to manually free, even though the code uses "shared"/reference counting facilities.

Alternate Imperative Version Using "Growable" Arrays

In general, we can convert functional algorithms into imperative style algorithms using Array's to emulate memoizing lazy lists and simple mutable variables to express the recursion within a while loop, as in the following codes (as also used when necessary in the above code). Rather than implement the true Dijkstra merge algorithm which is slower and uses more memory, the following codes implement the better non-duplicating algorithm:

Translation of: Nim
use BigInteger; use Time;

iter nodupsHamming(): bigint {
  var s2dom = { 0 .. 1023 }; var s2: [s2dom] bigint; // init so can double!
  var s3dom = { 0 .. 1023 }; var s3: [s3dom] bigint; // init so can double!
  s2[0] = 1: bigint; s3[0] = 3: bigint;
  var x5 = 5: bigint; var mrg = 3: bigint;
  var s2hdi, s2tli, s3hdi, s3tli: int;
  while true {
    s2tli += 1;
    if s2hdi + s2hdi >= s2tli { // move in place to avoid allocation!
      s2[0 .. s2tli - s2hdi - 1] = s2[s2hdi .. s2tli - 1];
      s2tli -= s2hdi; s2hdi = 0; }
    const s2sz = s2.size;
    if s2tli >= s2sz then s2dom = { 0 .. s2sz + s2sz - 1 };
    var rslt: bigint; const s2hd = s2[s2hdi];
    if s2hd < mrg { rslt = s2hd; s2hdi += 1; }
    else {
      s3tli += 1;
      if s3hdi + s3hdi >= s2tli { // move in place to avoid allocation!
        s3[0 .. s3tli - s3hdi - 1] = s3[s3hdi .. s3tli - 1];
        s3tli -= s3hdi; s3hdi = 0; }
      const s3sz = s3.size;
      if s3tli >= s3sz then s3dom = { 0 .. s3sz + s3sz - 1 };
      rslt = mrg; s3[s3tli] = rslt * 3;
      s3hdi += 1; const s3hd = s3[s3hdi];
      if s3hd < x5 { mrg = s3hd; }
      else { mrg = x5; x5 = x5 * 5; s3hdi -= 1; }
    }
    s2[s2tli] = rslt * 2;
    yield rslt;
  }
}

// test it...
write("The first 20 hamming numbers are: ");
var cnt = 0: uint(64);
for h in nodupsHamming() {
  if cnt >= 20 then break; cnt += 1; write(" ", h); }

write("\nThe 1691st hamming number is "); cnt = 1;
for h in nodupsHamming() {
  if cnt >= 1691 { writeln(h); break; } cnt += 1; }

write("The millionth hamming number is ");
var timer: Timer; cnt = 1;
timer.start(); var rslt: bigint;
for h in nodupsHamming() {
  if cnt >= 1000000 { rslt = h; break; } cnt += 1; }
timer.stop();
write(rslt);
writeln(".\nThis last took ",
        timer.elapsed(TimeUnits.milliseconds), " milliseconds.");
Output:
The first 20 hamming numbers are:  1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36
The 1691st hamming number is 2125764000
The millionth hamming number is 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000.
This last took 114.867 milliseconds.

The above time is as run on an Intel Skylake i5-6500 at 3.6 GHz (turbo, single-threaded).

As you can see, this algorithm is quite fast, as it minimizes the memory allocations/de-allocations, but it still takes considerable time for the many multi-precision (BigInteger) calculations even though the GMP library is being used under-the-covers.

Alternate version using logarithm approximations for sorting order

To greatly reduce the time used for BigInteger calculations, the following algorithm uses logarithmic approximations (real(64)) for internal calculations for sorting and only outputs the final answer(s) as BigInteger(s):

Translation of: Nim
use BigInteger; use Math; use Time;

config const nth: uint(64) = 1000000;

const lb2 = 1: real(64); // log base 2 of 2!
const lb3 = log2(3: real(64)); const lb5 = log2(5: real(64));
record LogRep {
  var lg: real(64); var x2: uint(32);
  var x3: uint(32); var x5: uint(32);
  inline proc mul2(): LogRep {
    return new LogRep(this.lg + lb2, this.x2 + 1, this.x3, this.x5); }
  inline proc mul3(): LogRep {
    return new LogRep(this.lg + lb3, this.x2, this.x3 + 1, this.x5); }
  inline proc mul5(): LogRep {
    return new LogRep(this.lg + lb5, this.x2, this.x3, this.x5 + 1); }
  proc lr2bigint(): bigint {
    proc xpnd(bs: uint, v: uint(32)): bigint {
      var rslt = 1: bigint; var bsm = bs: bigint; var vm = v: uint;
      while vm > 0 { if vm & 1 then rslt *= bsm; bsm *= bsm; vm >>= 1; }
      return rslt;
    }
    return xpnd(2: uint, this.x2) *
             xpnd(3: uint, this.x3) * xpnd(5: uint, this.x5);
  }
  proc writeThis(lr) throws {
    lr <~> this.lr2bigint();
  }
}
operator <(const ref a: LogRep, const ref b: LogRep): bool { return a.lg < b.lg; }
const one = new LogRep(0, 0, 0, 0);

iter nodupsHammingLog(): LogRep {
  var s2dom = { 0 .. 1023 }; var s2: [s2dom] LogRep; // init so can double!
  var s3dom = { 0 .. 1023 }; var s3: [s3dom] LogRep; // init so can double!
  s2[0] = one; s3[0] = one.mul3();
  var x5 = one.mul5(); var mrg = one.mul3();
  var s2hdi, s2tli, s3hdi, s3tli: int;
  while true {
    s2tli += 1;
    if s2hdi + s2hdi >= s2tli { // move in place to avoid allocation!
      s2[0 .. s2tli - s2hdi - 1] = s2[s2hdi .. s2tli - 1];
      s2tli -= s2hdi; s2hdi = 0; }
    const s2sz = s2.size;
    if s2tli >= s2sz then s2dom = { 0 .. s2sz + s2sz - 1 };
    var rslt: LogRep; const s2hd = s2[s2hdi];
    if s2hd.lg < mrg.lg { rslt = s2hd; s2hdi += 1; }
    else {
      s3tli += 1;
      if s3hdi + s3hdi >= s2tli { // move in place to avoid allocation!
        s3[0 .. s3tli - s3hdi - 1] = s3[s3hdi .. s3tli - 1];
        s3tli -= s3hdi; s3hdi = 0; }
      const s3sz = s3.size;
      if s3tli >= s3sz then s3dom = { 0 .. s3sz + s3sz - 1 };
      rslt = mrg; s3[s3tli] = mrg.mul3(); s3hdi += 1;
      const s3hd = s3[s3hdi];
      if s3hd.lg < x5.lg { mrg = s3hd; }
      else { mrg = x5; x5 = x5.mul5(); s3hdi -= 1; }
    }
    s2[s2tli] = rslt.mul2();
    yield rslt;
  }
}
 
// test it...
write("The first 20 hamming numbers are: ");
var cnt = 0: uint(64);
for h in nodupsHammingLog() {
  if cnt >= 20 then break; cnt += 1; write(" ", h); }

write("\nThe 1691st hamming number is "); cnt = 1;
for h in nodupsHammingLog() {
  if cnt >= 1691 { writeln(h); break; } cnt += 1; }

write("The ", nth, "th hamming number is ");
var timer: Timer; cnt = 1;
timer.start(); var rslt: LogRep;
for h in nodupsHammingLog() {
  if cnt >= nth { rslt = h; break; } cnt += 1; }
timer.stop();
write(rslt);
writeln(".\nThis last took ",
        timer.elapsed(TimeUnits.milliseconds), " milliseconds.");
Output:
The first 20 hamming numbers are:  1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36
The 1691st hamming number is 2125764000
The 1000000th hamming number is 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000.
This last took 6.372 milliseconds.

The above time is as run on an Intel Skylake i5-6500 at 3.6 GHz (turbo, single-threaded).

As you can see, the time expended for the required task is almost too fast to measure, meaning that much of the time expended in previous versions was just the time doing multi-precision arithmetic; the program takes about 8.1 seconds to find the billionth Hamming number.

Very Fast Algorithm Using a Sorted Error Band

The above code is about as fast as one can go generating sequences; however, if one is willing to forego sequences and just calculate the nth Hamming number (repeatedly), then some reading on the relationship between the size of numbers to the sequence numbers is helpful (Wikipedia: Regular Number). One finds that there is a very distinct relationship and that it quite quickly reduces to quite a small error band proportional to the log of the output value for larger ranges. Thus, the following code just scans for logarithmic representations to insert into a sequence for this top error band and extracts the correct nth representation from that band. It reduces time complexity to O(n^(2/3)) from O(n) for the sequence versions, but even more amazingly, reduces memory requirements to O(n^(1/3)) from O(n^(2/3)) and thus makes it possible to calculate very large values in the sequence on common personal computers. The code is as follows:

Translation of: Nim
Works with: 1.22 version for zero based tuple indices
use BigInteger; use Math; use Sort; use Time;

config const nth = 1000000: uint(64);

type TriVal = 3*uint(32);

proc trival2bigint(x: TriVal): bigint {
  proc xpnd(bs: uint, v: uint(32)): bigint {
    var rslt = 1: bigint; var bsm = bs: bigint; var vm = v: uint;
    while vm > 0 { if vm & 1 then rslt *= bsm; bsm *= bsm; vm >>= 1; }
    return rslt;
  }
  const (x2, x3, x5) = x;
  return xpnd(2: uint, x2) * xpnd(3: uint, x3) * xpnd(5: uint, x5);
}

proc nthHamming(n: uint(64)): TriVal {
  if n < 1 {
    writeln("nthHamming - argument must be at least one!"); exit(1); }
  if n < 2 then return (0: uint(32), 0: uint(32), 0: uint(32)); // TriVal for 1

  type LogRep = (real(64), uint(32), uint(32), uint(32));
  record Comparator {} // used for sorting in reverse order!
  proc Comparator.compare(a: LogRep, b: LogRep): real(64) {
    return b[0] - a[0]; }
  var logrepComp: Comparator;

  const lb3 = log2(3.0: real(64)); const lb5 = log2(5.0: real(64));
  const fctr = 6.0: real(64) * lb3 * lb5;
  const crctn = log2(sqrt(30.0: real(64))); // log base 2 of sqrt 30
  // from Wikipedia Regular Numbers formula...
  const lgest = (fctr * n: real(64))**(1.0: real(64) / 3.0: real(64)) - crctn;
  const frctn = if n < 1000000000 then 0.509: real(64) else 0.105: real(64);
  const lghi = (fctr * (n: real(64) + frctn * lgest))**
                 (1.0: real(64) / 3.0: real(64)) - crctn;
  const lglo = 2.0: real(64) * lgest - lghi; // lower limit of the upper "band"
  var count = 0: uint(64); // need to use extended precision, might go over
  var bndi = 0; var dombnd = { 0 .. bndi }; // one value so doubling size works!
  var bnd: [dombnd] LogRep; const klmt = (lghi / lb5): uint(32);
  for k in 0 .. klmt { // i, j, k values can be just uint(32) values!
    const p = k: real(64) * lb5; const jlmt = ((lghi - p) / lb3): uint(32);
    for j in 0 .. jlmt {
      const q = p + j: real(64) * lb3;
      const ir = lghi - q; const lg = q + floor(ir); // current log value (est)
      count += ir: uint(64) + 1;
      if lg >= lglo {
        const sz = dombnd.size; if bndi >= sz then dombnd = { 0..sz + sz - 1 };
        bnd[bndi] = (lg, ir: uint(32), j, k); bndi += 1;
      }
    }
  }
  if n > count {
    writeln("nth_hamming: band high estimate is too low!"); exit(1); }
  dombnd = { 0 .. bndi - 1 }; const ndx = (count - n): int;
  if ndx >= dombnd.size {
    writeln("nth_hamming: band low estimate is too high!"); exit(1); }
  sort(bnd, comparator = logrepComp); // descending order leaves zeros at end!

  const rslt = bnd[ndx]; return (rslt[1], rslt[2], rslt[3]);
}

// test it...
write("The first 20 Hamming numbers are: ");
for i in 1 .. 20 do write(" ", trival2bigint(nthHamming(i: uint(64))));

writeln("\nThe 1691st hamming number is ",
        trival2bigint(nthHamming(1691: uint(64))));

var timer: Timer;
timer.start();
const answr = nthHamming(nth);
timer.stop();
write("The ", nth, "th Hamming number is 2**",
      answr[0], " * 3**", answr[1], " * 5**", answr[2]);
const lgrslt = (answr[0]: real(64) + answr[1]: real(64) * log2(3: real(64)) +
                answr[2]: real(64) * log2(5: real(64))) * log10(2: real(64));
const whl = lgrslt: uint(64); const frac = lgrslt - whl: real(64);
write(",\nwhich is approximately ", 10: real(64)**frac, "E+", whl);
const bganswr = trival2bigint(answr);
const answrstr = bganswr: string; const asz = answrstr.size;
writeln(" and has ", asz, " digits.");
if asz <= 2000 then write("Can be printed as:  ", answrstr);
else write("It's too long to print");
writeln("!\nThis last took ",
        timer.elapsed(TimeUnits.milliseconds), " milliseconds.");
Output:
The first 20 Hamming numbers are:  1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36
The 1691st hamming number is 2125764000
The 1000000th Hamming number is 2**55 * 3**47 * 5**64,
which is approximately 5.19313E+83 and has 84 digits.
Can be printed as:  519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000!
This last took 0.0 milliseconds.

As you can see, the execution time is much too small to be measured. The billionth number in the sequence can be calculated in about 15 milliseconds and the trillionth in about 0.359 seconds. The (2^64 - 1)th value (18446744073709551615) cannot be calculated due to a slight overflow problem as it approaches that limit. However, this version gives inaccurate results much about the 1e13th Hamming number due to the log base two (double) approximate representation not having enough precision to accurately sort the values put into the error band array.

Alternate version with a greatly increased range without error

To solve the problem of inadequate precision in the double log base two representation, the following code uses a BigInt representation of the log value with about twice the significant bits, which is then sufficient to extend the usable range well beyond any reasonable requirement:

Translation of: Nim
Works with: 1.22 version for zero based tuple indices
use BigInteger; use Math; use Sort; use Time;

config const nth = 1000000: uint(64);

type TriVal = 3*uint(32);

proc trival2bigint(x: TriVal): bigint {
  proc xpnd(bs: uint, v: uint(32)): bigint {
    var rslt = 1: bigint; var bsm = bs: bigint; var vm = v: uint;
    while vm > 0 { if vm & 1 then rslt *= bsm; bsm *= bsm; vm >>= 1; }
    return rslt;
  }
  const (x2, x3, x5) = x;
  return xpnd(2: uint, x2) * xpnd(3: uint, x3) * xpnd(5: uint, x5);
}

proc nthHamming(n: uint(64)): TriVal {
  if n < 1 {
    writeln("nthHamming - argument must be at least one!"); exit(1); }
  if n < 2 then return (0: uint(32), 0: uint(32), 0: uint(32)); // TriVal for 1

  type LogRep = (bigint, uint(32), uint(32), uint(32));
  record Comparator {} // used for sorting in reverse order!
  proc Comparator.compare(a: LogRep, b: LogRep): int {
    return (b[0] - a[0]): int; }
  var logrepComp: Comparator;

  const lb3 = log2(3.0: real(64)); const lb5 = log2(5.0: real(64));
  const bglb2 = "1267650600228229401496703205376": bigint;
  const bglb3 = "2009178665378409109047848542368": bigint;
  const bglb5 = "2943393543170754072109742145491": bigint;
  const fctr = 6.0: real(64) * lb3 * lb5;
  const crctn = log2(sqrt(30.0: real(64))); // log base 2 of sqrt 30
  // from Wikipedia Regular Numbers formula...
  const lgest = (fctr * n: real(64))**(1.0: real(64) / 3.0: real(64)) - crctn;
  const frctn = if n < 1000000000 then 0.509: real(64) else 0.105: real(64);
  const lghi = (fctr * (n: real(64) + frctn * lgest))**
                 (1.0: real(64) / 3.0: real(64)) - crctn;
  const lglo = 2.0: real(64) * lgest - lghi; // lower limit of the upper "band"
  var count = 0: uint(64); // need to use extended precision, might go over
  var bndi = 0; var dombnd = { 0 .. bndi }; // one value so doubling size works!
  var bnd: [dombnd] LogRep; const klmt = (lghi / lb5): uint(32);
  for k in 0 .. klmt { // i, j, k values can be just uint(32) values!
    const p = k: real(64) * lb5; const jlmt = ((lghi - p) / lb3): uint(32);
    for j in 0 .. jlmt {
      const q = p + j: real(64) * lb3;
      const ir = lghi - q; const lg = q + floor(ir); // current log value (est)
      count += ir: uint(64) + 1;
      if lg >= lglo {
        const sz = dombnd.size; if bndi >= sz then dombnd = { 0..sz + sz - 1 };
        const bglg =
          bglb2 * ir: int(64) + bglb3 * j: int(64) + bglb5 * k: int(64);
        bnd[bndi] = (bglg, ir: uint(32), j, k); bndi += 1;
      }
    }
  }
  if n > count {
    writeln("nth_hamming: band high estimate is too low!"); exit(1); }
  dombnd = { 0 .. bndi - 1 }; const ndx = (count - n): int;
  if ndx >= dombnd.size {
    writeln("nth_hamming: band low estimate is too high!"); exit(1); }
  sort(bnd, comparator = logrepComp); // descending order leaves zeros at end!

  const rslt = bnd[ndx]; return (rslt[1], rslt[2], rslt[3]);
}

// test it...
write("The first 20 Hamming numbers are: ");
for i in 1 .. 20 do write(" ", trival2bigint(nthHamming(i: uint(64))));

writeln("\nThe 1691st hamming number is ",
        trival2bigint(nthHamming(1691: uint(64))));

var timer: Timer;
timer.start();
const answr = nthHamming(nth);
timer.stop();
write("The ", nth, "th Hamming number is 2**",
      answr[0], " * 3**", answr[1], " * 5**", answr[2]);
const lgrslt = (answr[0]: real(64) + answr[1]: real(64) * log2(3: real(64)) +
                answr[2]: real(64) * log2(5: real(64))) * log10(2: real(64));
const whl = lgrslt: uint(64); const frac = lgrslt - whl: real(64);
write(",\nwhich is approximately ", 10: real(64)**frac, "E+", whl);
const bganswr = trival2bigint(answr);
const answrstr = bganswr: string; const asz = answrstr.size;
writeln(" and has ", asz, " digits.");
if asz <= 2000 then write("Can be printed as:  ", answrstr);
else write("It's too long to print");
writeln("!\nThis last took ",
        timer.elapsed(TimeUnits.milliseconds), " milliseconds.");

The above code has the same output as before and doesn't take an appreciably different amount time to execute; it can produce the billionth Hamming number in about 31 milliseconds, the trillionth in about 0.546 seconds and the thousand trillionth (which is now possible without error) in about 39.36 seconds. Thus, it successfully extends the usable range of the algorithm to near the maximum expressible 64 bit number in a few hours of execution time on a modern desktop computer although the (2^64 - 1)th Hamming number can't be found due to the restrictions of the expressible range limit in sizing of the required error band.

That said, if one actually needed a sequence of Hamming numbers for fairly large ranges, one would likely be better off to make this last adjustment to the final logarithmic sequence version above as although this error-band version is extremely fast for single values, the accumulative cost for repeating use will be more than the incremental cost of the sequence version at some range limit.

Clojure

This version implements Dijkstra's merge solution, so is closely related to the Haskell version.

(defn smerge [xs ys]
  (lazy-seq
    (let [x (first xs),
          y (first ys),
          [z xs* ys*]
          (cond
            (< x y) [x (rest xs) ys]
            (> x y) [y xs (rest ys)]
            :else   [x (rest xs) (rest ys)])]
      (cons z (smerge xs* ys*)))))

(def hamming
  (lazy-seq
    (->> (map #(*' 5 %) hamming)
         (smerge (map #(*' 3 %) hamming))
         (smerge (map #(*' 2 %) hamming))
         (cons 1))))

Note that the above version uses a lot of space and time after calculating a few hundred thousand elements of the sequence. This is no doubt due to not avoiding the generation of duplicates in the sequences as well as its "holding on to the head": it maintains the entire generated sequences in memory.

Avoiding duplicates and reducing memory use

In order to fix the problems with the above program as to memory use and extra time expended, the following code implements the Haskell idea as a function so that it does not retain the pointers to the streams used so that they can be garbage collected from the beginning as they are consumed. it avoids duplicate number generation by using intermediate streams for each of the multiples and building each on the results of the last; also, it orders the streams from least dense to most so that the intermediate streams retained are as short as possible, with the "s5" stream only from one fifth to a third of the current value, the "s35" stream only between a third and a half of the current output value, and the s235 stream only between a half and the current output - as the sequence is not very dense with increasing range, mot many values need be retained:

Translation of: Haskell
(defn hamming
  "Computes the unbounded sequence of Hamming 235 numbers."
  []
  (letfn [(merge [xs ys]
            (if (nil? xs) ys
              (let [xv (first xs), yv (first ys)]
                (if (< xv yv) (cons xv (lazy-seq (merge (next xs) ys)))
                              (cons yv (lazy-seq (merge xs (next ys)))))))),
          (smult [m s] ;; equiv to map (* m) s -- faster
            (cons (*' m (first s)) (lazy-seq (smult m (next s))))),
          (u [s n] (let [r (atom nil)]
                      (reset! r (merge s (smult n (cons 1 (lazy-seq @r)))))))]
    (cons 1 (lazy-seq (reduce u nil (list 5 3 2))))))

Much of the time expended for larger ranges (say 10 million or more) is due to the time doing extended precision arithmetic, with also a significant percentage spent in garbage collection. Following is the output from the REPL after compiling the program:

After compiling code in REPL:

Output:
(take 20 (hamming))
(1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36)
(->> (hamming) (drop 1690) (first) (time))
"Elapsed time: 1.105582 msecs"
2125764000
(->> (hamming) (drop 999999) (first) (time))
"Elapsed time: 447.561128 msecs"
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000N

So that generated '.class' files in a folder or a generated '.jar' file (possibly standalone, containing the run time library) run at about the same speed as inside the IDE (after compilation), the Leiningen "project.clj" file needs to be modified to contain the following line so as to eliminate JVM options that slow the performance:

  :jvm-opts ^:replace []

CoffeeScript

# Generate hamming numbers in order.  Hamming numbers have the
# property that they don't evenly divide any prime numbers outside
# a given set, such as [2, 3, 5].

generate_hamming_sequence = (primes, max_n) ->
  # We use a lazy algorithm, only ever keeping N candidates
  # in play, one for each of our seed primes.  Let's say
  # primes is [2,3,5].  Our virtual streams are these:
  #
  # hammings:    1,2,3,4,5,6,8,10,12,15,16,18,20,...
  # hammings*2:  2,4,6,9.10,12,16,20,24,30,32,36,40...
  # hammings*3:  3,6,9,12,15,18,24,30,36,45,...
  # hammings*5:  5,10,15,20,25,30,40,50,...
  #
  # After encountering 40 for the last time, our candidates 
  # will be
  #   50 = 2 * 25
  #   45 = 3 * 15
  #   50 = 5 * 10
  # Then, after 45
  #   50 = 2 * 25
  #   48 = 3 * 16 <= new
  #   50 = 5 * 10 
  hamming_numbers = [1]
  candidates = ([p, p, 1] for p in primes)
  last_number = 1
  while hamming_numbers.length < max_n
    # Get the next candidate Hamming Number tuple.
    i = min_idx(candidates)
    candidate = candidates[i]
    [n, p, seq_idx] = candidate
    
    # Add to sequence unless it's a duplicate.
    if n > last_number
      hamming_numbers.push n
      last_number = n

    # Replace the candidate with its successor (based on
    # p = 2, 3, or 5).
    #
    # This is the heart of the algorithm.  Let's say, over the 
    # primes [2,3,5], we encounter the hamming number 32 based on it being 
    # 2 * 16, where 16 is the 12th number in the sequence.
    # We'll be passed in [32, 2, 12] as candidate, and
    # hamming_numbers will be [1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,12,16,18,...]
    # by now.  The next candidate we need to enqueue is
    # [36, 2, 13], where the numbers mean this:
    #
    #    36 - next multiple of 2 of a Hamming number
    #     2 - prime number
    #    13 - 1-based index of 18 in the sequence
    # 
    # When we encounter [36, 2, 13], we will then enqueue
    # [40, 2, 14], based on 20 being the 14th hamming number.
    q = hamming_numbers[seq_idx]
    candidates[i] = [p*q, p, seq_idx+1]
    
  hamming_numbers

min_idx = (arr) ->
  # Don't waste your time reading this--it just returns
  # the index of the smallest tuple in an array, respecting that
  # the tuples may contain integers. (CS compiles to JS, which is
  # kind of stupid about sorting.  There are libraries to work around
  # the limitation, but I wanted this code to be standalone.)
  less_than = (tup1, tup2) ->
    i = 0
    while i < tup2.length
      return true if tup1[i] <= tup2[i]
      return false if tup1[i] > tup2[i]
      i += 1

  min_i = 0
  for i in [1...arr.length]
    if less_than arr[i], arr[min_i]
      min_i = i
  return min_i

primes = [2, 3, 5]
numbers = generate_hamming_sequence(primes, 10000)
console.log numbers[1690]
console.log numbers[9999]

Common Lisp

Maintaining three queues, popping the smallest value every time.

(defun next-hamm (factors seqs)
  (let ((x (apply #'min (map 'list #'first seqs))))
    (loop for s in seqs
	  for f in factors
	  for i from 0
	  with add = t do
	  (if (= x (first s)) (pop s))
	  ;; prevent a value from being added to multiple lists
	  (when add
	    (setf (elt seqs i) (nconc s (list (* x f))))
	    (if (zerop (mod x f)) (setf add nil)))
    finally (return x))))

(loop with factors = '(2 3 5)
      with seqs    = (loop for i in factors collect '(1))
      for n from 1 to 1000001 do
      (let ((x (next-hamm factors seqs)))
	(if (or (< n 21)
		(= n 1691)
		(= n 1000000)) (format t "~d: ~d~%" n x))))

A much faster method:

(defun hamming (n)
  (let ((fac '(2 3 5))
	(idx (make-array 3 :initial-element 0))
	(h (make-array (1+ n)
		       :initial-element 1
		       :element-type 'integer)))
    (loop for i from 1 to n
	  with e with x = '(1 1 1) do
	  (setf e (setf (aref h i) (apply #'min x))
		x (loop for y in x
			for f in fac
			for j from 0
			collect (if (= e y) (* f (aref h (incf (aref idx j)))) y))))
    (aref h n)))

(loop for i from 1 to 20 do
      (format t "~2d: ~d~%" i (hamming i)))

(loop for i in '(1691 1000000) do
      (format t "~d: ~d~%" i (hamming i)))
Output:
 1: 1
 2: 2
 3: 3
 4: 4
 5: 5
 6: 6
 7: 8
 8: 9
 9: 10
10: 12
11: 15
12: 16
13: 18
14: 20
15: 24
16: 25
17: 27
18: 30
19: 32
20: 36
1691: 2125764000
1000000: 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Crystal

Translation of: Bc
require "big"

def hamming(limit)
  h = Array.new(limit, 1.to_big_i)     # h = Array.new(limit+1, 1.to_big_i)
  x2, x3, x5 = 2.to_big_i, 3.to_big_i, 5.to_big_i
  i, j, k = 0, 0, 0
  (1...limit).each do |n|              # (1..limit).each do |n|
    h[n] = Math.min(x2, Math.min(x3, x5))
    x2 = 2 * h[i += 1] if x2 == h[n]
    x3 = 3 * h[j += 1] if x3 == h[n]
    x5 = 5 * h[k += 1] if x5 == h[n]
  end
  h[limit - 1]
end

start = Time.monotonic
print "Hamming Number (1..20): "; (1..20).each { |i| print "#{hamming(i)} " }
puts
puts "Hamming Number 1691: #{hamming 1691}"
puts "Hamming Number 1,000,000: #{hamming 1_000_000}"
puts "Elasped Time: #{(Time.monotonic - start).total_seconds} secs"
System: I7-6700HQ, 3.5 GHz, Linux Kernel 5.6.17, Crystal 0.35
Run as: $ crystal run hammingnumbers.cr --release
Output:
Hamming Number (1..20): 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 
Hamming Number 1691: 2125764000
Hamming Number 1,000,000: 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Elasped Time: 0.21420532 secs

Functional Non-Duplicates Version

The above implementation is true to the original Dijkstra algorithm but it's one of the few times where Dijkstra's analysis wasn't complete; there has been developed a later algorithm that is at least twice as fast due to only processing non-duplicate Hamming numbers and keeping only the numbers as necessary for further extensions of the sequence (the tails of the lists). Although Crystal isn't really a functional language, it is capable of enough functional forms of code to be able to implement this new algorithm. The algorithm requires lazy lists, for which currently Crystal has no library module, but as Crystal does have full first class functions including the ability to capture environment variables as closures, the `LazyList` type is easy enough to implement, as in the following code:

Translation of: Kotlin
require "big"

# Unlike some languages like Kotlin, Crystal doesn't have a Lazy module,
# but it has closures, so it is easy to implement a LazyList class;
# Memoizes the results of the thunk so only executed once...
class LazyList(T)
  getter head
  @tail : LazyList(T)? = nil

  def initialize(@head : T, @thnk : Proc(LazyList(T)))
  end
  def initialize(@head : T, @thnk : Proc(Nil))
  end
  def initialize(@head : T, @thnk : Nil)
  end

  def tail # not thread safe without a lock/mutex...
    if thnk = @thnk
      @tail = thnk.call; @thnk = nil
    end
    @tail
  end
end

class Hammings
  include Iterator(BigInt)
  private BASES = [ 5, 3, 2 ] of Int32
  private EMPTY = nil.as(LazyList(BigInt)?)
  @ll : LazyList(BigInt)

  def initialize
    rst = uninitialized LazyList(BigInt)
    BASES.each.accumulate(EMPTY) { |u, n| Hammings.unify(u, n) }
             .skip(1).each { |ll| rst = ll.not_nil! }
    @ll = LazyList.new(BigInt.new(1), ->{ rst } )
  end

  protected def self.unify(s : LazyList(BigInt)?, n : Int32)
    r = uninitialized LazyList(BigInt)?
    if ss = s
      r = merge(ss, mults(n, LazyList.new(BigInt.new(1), -> { r.not_nil! })))
    else
      r = mults(n, LazyList.new(BigInt.new(1), -> { r.not_nil! }))
    end
    r
  end

  private def self.mults(m : Int32, lls : LazyList(BigInt))
    mlts = uninitialized Proc(LazyList(BigInt), LazyList(BigInt))
    mlts = -> (ill : LazyList(BigInt)) {
      LazyList.new(ill.head * m, -> { mlts.call(ill.tail.not_nil!) }) }
    mlts.call(lls)
  end

  private def self.merge(x : LazyList(BigInt), y : LazyList(BigInt))
    xhd = x.head; yhd = y.head
    if xhd < yhd
      LazyList.new(xhd, -> { merge(x.tail.not_nil!, y) })
    else
      LazyList.new(yhd, -> { merge(x, y.tail.not_nil!) })
    end
  end

  def next
    rslt = @ll.head; @ll = @ll.tail.not_nil!; rslt
  end
end

print "The first 20 Hamming numbers are: "
Hammings.new.first(20).each { |h| print(" ", h) }
print ".\r\nThe 1691st Hamming number is "
Hammings.new.skip(1690).first(1).each { |h| print h }
print ".\r\nThe millionth Hamming number is "
start_time = Time.monotonic
Hammings.new.skip(999_999).first(1).each { |h| print h }
elpsd = (Time.monotonic - start_time).total_milliseconds
printf(".\r\nThis last took %f milliseconds.\r\n", elpsd)
Output:
The first 20 Hamming numbers are:  1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36.
The 1691st Hamming number is 2125764000.
The millionth Hamming number is 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000.
This last took 162.713293 milliseconds.

The time is as run on an Intel SkyLake i5-6500 CPU running at 3.6 GHz single threaded as here. The code is a little slower than the fastest functional languages, such as Haskell or Kotlin due to that the speed of the Boehm Garbage Collector used by Crystal isn't as tuned for the many small allocations as necessary for functional forms of code such as the `LazyList` as those other languages which use memory pools to reduce the allocation/deallocation time from many small blocks of memory; that said, many common languages are much slower than this for functional algorithms due to their memory allocators being even slower and less tuned for this use.

About a quarter of the time is spent doing extended precision calculations (which time will increase disproportional to range as the numbers get larger) but over two thirds of the the is spent just handling memory allocations/deallocations.

Functional Non-Duplicates Version Using Log Estimations

In order to show the time expended in multi-precision integer calculations, the following code implements the same algorithm as above but uses logarithmic estimations rather than multi-precision integer arithmetic to compute each instance of the Hamming number sequence, only converting to `BigInt` for the results:

require "big"

# Unlike some languages like Kotlin, Crystal doesn't have a Lazy module,
# but it has closures, so it is easy to implement a LazyList class;
# Memoizes the results of the thunk so only executed once...
class LazyList(T)
  getter head
  @tail : LazyList(T)? = nil

  def initialize(@head : T, @thnk : Proc(LazyList(T)))
  end
  def initialize(@head : T, @thnk : Proc(Nil))
  end
  def initialize(@head : T, @thnk : Nil)
  end

  def tail # not thread safe without a lock/mutex...
    if thnk = @thnk
      @tail = thnk.call; @thnk = nil
    end
    @tail
  end
end

class LogRep
  private LOG2_2 = 1.0_f64
  private LOG2_3 = Math.log2 3.0_f64
  private LOG2_5 = Math.log2 5.0_f64

  def initialize(@logrep : Float64, @x2 : Int32, @x3 : Int32, @x5 : Int32)
  end

  def self.mult2(x : LogRep)
    LogRep.new(x.@logrep + LOG2_2, x.@x2 + 1, x.@x3, x.@x5)
  end

  def self.mult3(x : LogRep)
    LogRep.new(x.@logrep + LOG2_3, x.@x2, x.@x3 + 1, x.@x5)
  end

  def self.mult5(x : LogRep)
    LogRep.new(x.@logrep + LOG2_5, x.@x2, x.@x3, x.@x5 + 1)
  end

  def <(other : LogRep)
    self.@logrep < other.@logrep
  end

  def toBigInt
    expnd = -> (x : Int32, mlt : Int32) do
      rslt = BigInt.new(1); m = BigInt.new(mlt)
      while x > 0
        rslt *= m if (x & 1) > 0; m *= m; x >>= 1
      end
      rslt
    end
    expnd.call(@x2, 2) * expnd.call(@x3, 3) * expnd.call(@x5, 5)
  end
end

class HammingsLogRep
  include Iterator(LogRep)
  private BASES = [ -> (x : LogRep) { LogRep.mult5 x },
                    -> (x : LogRep) { LogRep.mult3 x },
                    -> (x : LogRep) { LogRep.mult2 x } ]
  private EMPTY = nil.as(LazyList(LogRep)?)
  private ONE = LogRep.new(0.0, 0, 0, 0)
  @ll : LazyList(LogRep)

  def initialize
    rst = uninitialized LazyList(LogRep)
    BASES.each.accumulate(EMPTY) { |u, n| HammingsLogRep.unify(u, n) }
             .skip(1).each { |ll| rst = ll.not_nil! }
    @ll = LazyList.new(ONE, ->{ rst } )
  end

  protected def self.unify(s : LazyList(LogRep)?, n : LogRep -> LogRep)
    r = uninitialized LazyList(LogRep)?
    if ss = s
      r = merge(ss, mults(n, LazyList.new(ONE, -> { r.not_nil! })))
    else
      r = mults(n, LazyList.new(ONE, -> { r.not_nil! }))
    end
    r
  end

  private def self.mults(m : LogRep -> LogRep, lls : LazyList(LogRep))
    mlts = uninitialized Proc(LazyList(LogRep), LazyList(LogRep))
    mlts = -> (ill : LazyList(LogRep)) {
      LazyList.new(m.call(ill.head), -> { mlts.call(ill.tail.not_nil!) }) }
    mlts.call(lls)
  end

  private def self.merge(x : LazyList(LogRep), y : LazyList(LogRep))
    xhd = x.head; yhd = y.head
    if xhd < yhd
      LazyList.new(xhd, -> { merge(x.tail.not_nil!, y) })
    else
      LazyList.new(yhd, -> { merge(x, y.tail.not_nil!) })
    end
  end

  def next
    rslt = @ll.head; @ll = @ll.tail.not_nil!; rslt
  end
end

print "The first 20 Hamming numbers are: "
HammingsLogRep.new.first(20).each { |h| print(" ", h.toBigInt) }
print ".\r\nThe 1691st Hamming number is "
HammingsLogRep.new.skip(1690).first(1).each { |h| print h.toBigInt }
print ".\r\nThe millionth Hamming number is "
start_time = Time.monotonic
HammingsLogRep.new.skip(999_999).first(1).each { |h| print h.toBigInt }
elpsd = (Time.monotonic - start_time).total_milliseconds
printf(".\r\nThis last took %f milliseconds.\r\n", elpsd)
Output:
The first 20 Hamming numbers are:  1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36.
The 1691st Hamming number is 2125764000.
The millionth Hamming number is 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000.
This last took 131.661941 milliseconds.

As can be seen by comparing with the above results using the same Intel Skylake i5-6500 CPU, this is about 20 percent faster due to less time spent doing the increasingly long multi-precision `BigInt`'s. Note that using a `struct` rather than a `class` would make this code about twice as slow due to the larger memory copies required in copying "value's" rather than "reference" pointers.

Functional Non-Duplicates Version Using Log Estimations and Imperative Code

To show that the majority of the time for the above implementations is used in memory allocations/deallocations for the functional lazy list form of code, the following code implements this imperatively by using home-grown "growable" arrays; these "growable" arrays were hand implemented using pointer allocations to avoid the automatic bounds checking done for conventional Array's; note that the `LogRep` is now a `struct` rather than a `class` as now there aren't many value copies and to save the quite large amount of time required to allocation/deallocate memory as if `class`'s were used:

Translation of: Nim
require "big"

struct LogRep
  private LOG2_2 = 1.0_f64
  private LOG2_3 = Math.log2 3.0_f64
  private LOG2_5 = Math.log2 5.0_f64

  def initialize(@logrep : Float64, @x2 : Int32, @x3 : Int32, @x5 : Int32)
  end

  def mult2
    LogRep.new(@logrep + LOG2_2, @x2 + 1, @x3, @x5)
  end

  def mult3
    LogRep.new(@logrep + LOG2_3, @x2, @x3 + 1, @x5)
  end

  def mult5
    LogRep.new(@logrep + LOG2_5, @x2, @x3, @x5 + 1)
  end

  def <(other : LogRep)
    self.@logrep < other.@logrep
  end

  def toBigInt
    expnd = -> (x : Int32, mlt : Int32) do
      rslt = BigInt.new(1); m = BigInt.new(mlt)
      while x > 0
        rslt *= m if (x & 1) > 0; m *= m; x >>= 1
      end
      rslt
    end
    expnd.call(@x2, 2) * expnd.call(@x3, 3) * expnd.call(@x5, 5)
  end
end

class HammingsImpLogRep
  include Iterator(LogRep)
  private ONE = LogRep.new(0.0, 0, 0, 0)
  # use pointers to avoid bounds checking...
  @s2 = Pointer(LogRep).malloc 1024; @s3 = Pointer(LogRep).malloc 1024
  @s5 : LogRep = ONE.mult5; @mrg : LogRep = ONE.mult3
  @s2sz = 1024; @s3sz = 1024
  @s2hdi = 0; @s2tli = 0; @s3hdi = 0; @s3tli = 0

  def initialize
    @s2[0] = ONE; @s3[0] = ONE.mult3
  end

  def next
    @s2tli += 1
    if @s2hdi + @s2hdi >= @s2sz # unused is half of used
      @s2.move_from(@s2 + @s2hdi, @s2tli - @s2hdi)
      @s2tli -= @s2hdi; @s2hdi = 0
    end
    if @s2tli >= @s2sz # grow array, copying former contents
      @s2sz += @s2sz; ns2 = Pointer(LogRep).malloc @s2sz
      ns2.move_from(@s2, @s2tli); @s2 = ns2
    end
    rsltp = @s2 + @s2hdi;
    if rsltp.value < @mrg
      @s2[@s2tli] = rsltp.value.mult2; @s2hdi += 1
    else
      @s3tli += 1
      if @s3hdi + @s3hdi >= @s3sz # unused is half of used
        @s3.move_from(@s3 + @s3hdi, @s3tli - @s3hdi)
        @s3tli -= @s3hdi; @s3hdi = 0
      end
      if @s3tli >= @s3sz # grow array, copying former contents
        @s3sz += @s3sz; ns3 = Pointer(LogRep).malloc @s3sz
        ns3.move_from(@s3, @s3tli); @s3 = ns3
      end
      @s2[@s2tli] = @mrg.mult2; @s3[@s3tli] = @mrg.mult3
      @s3hdi += 1; ns3hdp = @s3 + @s3hdi
      rslt = @mrg; rsltp = pointerof(rslt)
      if ns3hdp.value < @s5
        @mrg = ns3hdp.value
      else
        @mrg = @s5; @s5 = @s5.mult5; @s3hdi -= 1
      end      
    end
    rsltp.value
  end
end

print "The first 20 Hamming numbers are: "
HammingsImpLogRep.new.first(20).each { |h| print(" ", h.toBigInt) }
print ".\r\nThe 1691st Hamming number is "
HammingsImpLogRep.new.skip(1690).first(1).each { |h| print h.toBigInt }
print ".\r\nThe millionth Hamming number is "
start_time = Time.monotonic
HammingsImpLogRep.new.skip(999_999).first(1).each { |h| print h.toBigInt }
elpsd = (Time.monotonic - start_time).total_milliseconds
printf(".\r\nThis last took %f milliseconds.\r\n", elpsd)
Output:
The first 20 Hamming numbers are:  1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36.
The 1691st Hamming number is 2125764000.
The millionth Hamming number is 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000.
This last took 7.330211 milliseconds.

As can be seen by comparing with the above results using the same Intel Skylake i5-6500 CPU, this is about eighteen times faster than the functional version also using logarithmic representations due to less time spent doing memory allocations/deallocations by using the imperative form of code. This version can find the billionth Hamming number in about 7.6 seconds on this machine.

D

Basic Version

This version keeps all numbers in memory, computing all the Hamming numbers up to the needed one. Performs constant number of operations per Hamming number produced.

import std.stdio, std.bigint, std.algorithm, std.range, core.memory;

auto hamming(in uint n) pure nothrow /*@safe*/ {
    immutable BigInt two = 2, three = 3, five = 5;
    auto h = new BigInt[n];
    h[0] = 1;
    BigInt x2 = 2, x3 = 3, x5 = 5;
    size_t i, j, k;

    foreach (ref el; h.dropOne) {
        el = min(x2, x3, x5);
        if (el == x2) x2 = two   * h[++i];
        if (el == x3) x3 = three * h[++j];
        if (el == x5) x5 = five  * h[++k];
    }
    return h.back;
}

void main() {
    GC.disable;
    iota(1, 21).map!hamming.writeln;
    1_691.hamming.writeln;
    1_000_000.hamming.writeln;
}
Output:
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 36]
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Runtime is about 1.6 seconds with LDC2.

Alternative Version 1

This keeps numbers in memory, but over-computes a sequence by a factor of about , calculating extra multiples past that as well. Incurs an extra factor of operations per each number produced (reinserting its multiples into a tree). Doesn't stop when the target number is reached, instead continuing until it is no longer needed:

Translation of: Java
import std.stdio, std.bigint, std.container, std.algorithm, std.range,
       core.memory;

BigInt hamming(in int n)
in {
   assert(n > 0);
} body {
    auto frontier = redBlackTree(2.BigInt, 3.BigInt, 5.BigInt);
    auto lowest = 1.BigInt;
    foreach (immutable _; 1 .. n) {
        lowest = frontier.front;
        frontier.removeFront;
        frontier.insert(lowest * 2);
        frontier.insert(lowest * 3);
        frontier.insert(lowest * 5);
    }
    return lowest;
}

void main() {
    GC.disable;
    writeln("First 20 Hamming numbers: ", iota(1, 21).map!hamming);
    writeln("hamming(1691) = ", 1691.hamming);
    writeln("hamming(1_000_000) = ", 1_000_000.hamming);
}
Output:
First 20 Hamming numbers: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 36]
hamming(1691) = 2125764000
hamming(1_000_000) = 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

About 3.2 seconds run time with LDC2.

Alternative Version 2

Does exactly what the first version does, creating an array and filling it with Hamming numbers, keeping the three back pointers into the sequence for next multiples calculations, except that it represents the numbers as their coefficients triples and their logarithm values (for comparisons), thus saving on BigInt calculations.

Translation of: C
import std.stdio: writefln;
import std.bigint: BigInt;
import std.conv: text;
import std.numeric: gcd;
import std.algorithm: copy, map;
import std.array: array;
import core.stdc.stdlib: calloc;
import std.math: log; // ^^

// Number of factors.
enum NK = 3;

enum MAX_HAM = 10_000_000;
static assert(gcd(NK, MAX_HAM) == 1);

enum int[NK] factors = [2, 3, 5];


/// K-smooth numbers (stored as their exponents of each factor).
struct Hamming {
    double v; // Log of the number, for convenience.
    ushort[NK] e; // Exponents of each factor.

    public static __gshared immutable double[factors.length] inc =
        factors[].map!log.array;

    bool opEquals(in ref Hamming y) const pure nothrow @nogc {
        //return this.e == y.e; // Too much slow.
        foreach (immutable i; 0 .. this.e.length)
            if (this.e[i] != y.e[i])
                return false;
        return true;
    }

    void update() pure nothrow @nogc {
        //this.v = dotProduct(inc, this.e); // Too much slow.
        this.v = 0.0;
        foreach (immutable i; 0 .. this.e.length)
            this.v += inc[i] * this.e[i];
    }

    string toString() const {
        BigInt result = 1;
        foreach (immutable i, immutable f; factors)
            result *= f.BigInt ^^ this.e[i];
        return result.text;
    }
}

// Global variables.
__gshared Hamming[] hams;
__gshared Hamming[NK] values;

nothrow @nogc static this() {
    // Slower than calloc if you don't use all the MAX_HAM items.
    //hams = new Hamming[MAX_HAM];

    auto ptr = cast(Hamming*)calloc(MAX_HAM, Hamming.sizeof);
    static const err = new Error("Not enough memory.");
    if (!ptr)
        throw err;
    hams = ptr[0 .. MAX_HAM];

    foreach (immutable i, ref v; values) {
        v.e[i] = 1;
        v.v = Hamming.inc[i];
    }
}


ref Hamming getHam(in size_t n) nothrow @nogc
in {
    assert(n <= MAX_HAM);
} body {
    // Most of the time v can be just incremented, but eventually
    // floating point precision will bite us, so better recalculate.
    __gshared static size_t[NK] idx;
    __gshared static int n_hams;

    for (; n_hams < n; n_hams++) {
        {
            // Find the index of the minimum v.
            size_t ni = 0;
            foreach (immutable i; 1 .. NK)
                if (values[i].v < values[ni].v)
                    ni = i;

            hams[n_hams] = values[ni];
            hams[n_hams].update;
        }

        foreach (immutable i; 0 .. NK)
            if (values[i] == hams[n_hams]) {
                values[i] = hams[idx[i]];
                idx[i]++;
                values[i].e[i]++;
                values[i].update;
            }
    }

    return hams[n - 2];
}


void main() {
    foreach (immutable n; [1691, 10 ^^ 6, MAX_HAM])
        writefln("%8d: %s", n, n.getHam);
}

The output is similar to the second C version. Runtime is about 0.11 seconds if MAX_HAM = 1_000_000 (as the task requires), and 0.90 seconds if MAX_HAM = 10_000_000.

Alternative Version 3

This version is similar to the precedent, but frees unused values. It's a little slower than the precedent version, but it uses much less RAM, so it allows to compute the result for larger n.

import std.stdio: writefln;
import std.bigint: BigInt;
import std.conv: text;
import std.algorithm: map;
import std.array: array;
import core.stdc.stdlib: malloc, calloc, free;
import std.math: log; // ^^

// Number of factors.
enum NK = 3;

__gshared immutable int[NK] primes = [2, 3, 5];
__gshared immutable double[NK] lnPrimes = primes[].map!log.array;

/// K-smooth numbers (stored as their exponents of each factor).

struct Hamming {
    double ln; // Log of the number.
    ushort[NK] e; // Exponents of each factor.
    Hamming* next;
    size_t n;

    // Recompute the logarithm from the exponents.
    void recalculate() pure nothrow @safe @nogc {
        this.ln = 0.0;
        foreach (immutable i, immutable ei; this.e)
            this.ln += lnPrimes[i] * ei;
    }

    string toString() const {
        BigInt result = 1;
        foreach (immutable i, immutable f; primes)
            result *= f.BigInt ^^ this.e[i];
        return result.text;
    }
}

Hamming getHam(in size_t n) nothrow @nogc
in {
    assert(n && n != size_t.max);
} body {
    static struct Candidate {
        typeof(Hamming.ln) ln;
        typeof(Hamming.e) e;

        void increment(in size_t n) pure nothrow @safe @nogc {
            e[n] += 1;
            ln += lnPrimes[n];
        }

        bool opEquals(T)(in ref T y) const pure nothrow @safe @nogc {
            // return this.e == y.e; // Slow.
            return !((this.e[0] ^ y.e[0]) |
                     (this.e[1] ^ y.e[1]) |
                     (this.e[2] ^ y.e[2]));
        }

        int opCmp(T)(in ref T y) const pure nothrow @safe @nogc {
            return (ln > y.ln) ? 1 : (ln < y.ln ? -1 : 0);
        }
    }

    static struct HammingIterator { // Not a Range.
        Candidate cand;
        Hamming* base;
        size_t primeIdx;

        this(in size_t i, Hamming* b) pure nothrow @safe @nogc {
            primeIdx = i;
            base = b;
            cand.e = base.e;
            cand.ln = base.ln;
            cand.increment(primeIdx);
        }

        void next() pure nothrow @safe @nogc {
            base = base.next;
            cand.e = base.e;
            cand.ln = base.ln;
            cand.increment(primeIdx);
        }
    }

    HammingIterator[NK] its;
    Hamming* head = cast(Hamming*)calloc(Hamming.sizeof, 1);
    Hamming* freeList, cur = head;
    Candidate next;

    foreach (immutable i, ref it; its)
        it = HammingIterator(i, cur);

    for (size_t i = cur.n = 1; i < n; ) {
        auto leastReferenced = size_t.max;
        next.ln = double.max;
        foreach (ref it; its) {
            if (it.cand == *cur)
                it.next;
            if (it.base.n < leastReferenced)
                leastReferenced = it.base.n;
            if (it.cand < next)
                next = it.cand;
        }

        // Collect unferenced numbers.
        while (head.n < leastReferenced) {
            auto tmp = head;
            head = head.next;
            tmp.next = freeList;
            freeList = tmp;
        }

        if (!freeList) {
            cur.next = cast(Hamming*)malloc(Hamming.sizeof);
        } else {
            cur.next = freeList;
            freeList = freeList.next;
        }

        cur = cur.next;
        version (fastmath) {
            cur.ln = next.ln;
            cur.e = next.e;
        } else {
            cur.e = next.e;
            cur.recalculate; // Prevent FP error accumulation.
        }

        cur.n = i++;
        cur.next = null;
    }

    auto result = *cur;
    version (leak) {}
    else {
        while (head) {
            auto tmp = head;
            head = head.next;
            tmp.free;
        }

        while (freeList) {
            auto tmp = freeList;
            freeList = freeList.next;
            tmp.free;
        }
    }

    return result;
}

void main() {
    foreach (immutable n; [1691, 10 ^^ 6, 10_000_000])
        writefln("%8d: %s", n, n.getHam);
}

The output is the same as the second alternative version.

Dart

In order to produce reasonable ranges of Hamming numbers, one needs the BigInt type, but processing of many BigInt's in generating a sequence slows the code; for that reason the following code records the determined values as a combination of an approximation of the log base two value and the triple of the powers of two, three and five, only generating the final output values as BigInt's as required:

import 'dart:math';

final lb2of2 = 1.0;
final lb2of3 = log(3.0) / log(2.0);
final lb2of5 = log(5.0) / log(2.0);

class Trival {
  final double log2;
  final int twos;
  final int threes;
  final int fives;
  Trival mul2() {
    return Trival(this.log2 + lb2of2, this.twos + 1, this.threes, this.fives);
  }
  Trival mul3() {
    return Trival(this.log2 + lb2of3, this.twos, this.threes + 1, this.fives);
  }
  Trival mul5() {
    return Trival(this.log2 + lb2of5, this.twos, this.threes, this.fives + 1);
  }
  @override String toString() {
    return this.log2.toString() + " "
      + this.twos.toString() + " "
      + this.threes.toString() + " "
      + this.fives.toString();
  }
  const Trival(this.log2, this.twos, this.threes, this.fives);
}

Iterable<Trival> makeHammings() sync* {
  var one = Trival(0.0, 0, 0, 0);
  yield(one);
  var s532 = one.mul2();
  var mrg = one.mul3();
  var s53 = one.mul3().mul3(); // equivalent to 9 for advance step
  var s5 = one.mul5();
  var i = -1; var j = -1;
  List<Trival> h = [];
  List<Trival> m = [];
  Trival rslt;
  while (true) {
    if (s532.log2 < mrg.log2) {
      rslt = s532; h.add(s532); ++i; s532 = h[i].mul2(); 
    } else {
      rslt = mrg; h.add(mrg); 
      if (s53.log2 < s5.log2) {
        mrg = s53; m.add(s53); ++j; s53 = m[j].mul3();
      } else {
        mrg = s5; m.add(s5); s5 = s5.mul5();
      }
      if (j > (m.length >> 1)) {m.removeRange(0, j); j = 0; }
    }
    if (i > (h.length >> 1)) {h.removeRange(0, i); i = 0; }
    yield(rslt);
  }
}

BigInt trival2Int(Trival tv) {
  return BigInt.from(2).pow(tv.twos)
           * BigInt.from(3).pow(tv.threes)
           * BigInt.from(5).pow(tv.fives);
}

void main() {
  final numhams = 1000000000000;
  var hamseqstr = "The first 20 Hamming numbers are:  ( ";
  makeHammings().take(20)
      .forEach((h) => hamseqstr += trival2BigInt(h).toString() + " ");
  print(hamseqstr + ")");
  var nthhamseqstr = "The first 20 Hamming numbers are:  ( ";
  for (var i = 1; i <= 20; ++i) {
    nthhamseqstr += trival2BigInt(nthHamming(i)).toString() + " ";
  }
  print(nthhamseqstr + ")");
  final strt = DateTime.now().millisecondsSinceEpoch;
  final answr = makeHammings().skip(999999).first;
  final elpsd = DateTime.now().millisecondsSinceEpoch - strt;
  print("The ${numhams}th Hamming number is:  $answr");
  print("in full as:  ${trival2BigInt(answr)}");
  print("This test took $elpsd milliseconds.");
}
Output:
The first 20 Hamming numbers are:  ( 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 )
The 1000000th Hamming number is:  278.096635606686 55 47 64
in full as:  519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
This test took 311 milliseconds.

Due to using a mutable extendable List (Array) and mutation, the above generator is reasonably fast, and as well has the feature that List memory is recovered as it is no longer required, with a considerable saving in both execution speed and memory requirement.

Alternate extremely fast version using an "error band"

Although not a Hamming sequence generator, the following code uses the known characteristics of the distribution of Hamming numbers to just scan through to find all possibilities in a relatively narrow "error band" which then can be sorted based on the log base two approximation and the nth element determined inside that band; it has a huge advantage that memory requirements drop to O(n^(1/3)) and asymptotic execution complexity drops from O(n) to O(n^(2/3)) for an extremely fast execution speed (thanks to WillNess for the start of this algorithm as referenced in the Haskell section): Template:Translated from

import 'dart:math';

final lb2of2 = 1.0;
final lb2of3 = log(3.0) / log(2.0);
final lb2of5 = log(5.0) / log(2.0);

class Trival {
  final double log2;
  final int twos;
  final int threes;
  final int fives;
  Trival mul2() {
    return Trival(this.log2 + lb2of2, this.twos + 1, this.threes, this.fives);
  }
  Trival mul3() {
    return Trival(this.log2 + lb2of3, this.twos, this.threes + 1, this.fives);
  }
  Trival mul5() {
    return Trival(this.log2 + lb2of5, this.twos, this.threes, this.fives + 1);
  }
  @override String toString() {
    return this.log2.toString() + " "
      + this.twos.toString() + " "
      + this.threes.toString() + " "
      + this.fives.toString();
  }
  const Trival(this.log2, this.twos, this.threes, this.fives);
}

BigInt trival2BigInt(Trival tv) {
  return BigInt.from(2).pow(tv.twos)
           * BigInt.from(3).pow(tv.threes)
           * BigInt.from(5).pow(tv.fives);
}

Trival nthHamming(int n) {
  if (n < 1) throw Exception("nthHamming:  argument must be higher than 0!!!");
  if (n < 7) {
    if (n & (n - 1) == 0) {
      final bts = n.bitLength - 1;
      return Trival(bts.toDouble(), bts, 0, 0);
    }
    switch (n) {
      case 3: return Trival(lb2of3, 0, 1, 0);
      case 5: return Trival(lb2of5, 0, 0, 1);
      case 6: return Trival(lb2of2 + lb2of3, 1, 1, 0);
    }
  }
  final fctr = 6.0 * lb2of3 * lb2of5;
  final crctn = log(sqrt(30.0)) / log(2.0);
  final lb2est = pow(fctr * n.toDouble(), 1.0/3.0) - crctn;
  final lb2rng = 2.0/lb2est;
  final lb2hi = lb2est + 1.0/lb2est;
  List<Trival> ebnd = [];
  var cnt = 0;
  for (var k = 0; k < (lb2hi / lb2of5).ceil(); ++k) {
    final lb2p = lb2hi - k * lb2of5;
    for (var j = 0; j < (lb2p / lb2of3).ceil(); ++j) {
      final lb2q = lb2p - j * lb2of3;
      final i = lb2q.floor(); final lb2frac = lb2q - i;
      cnt += i + 1;
      if (lb2frac <= lb2rng) {
        final lb2v = i * lb2of2 + j * lb2of3 + k * lb2of5;
        ebnd.add(Trival(lb2v, i, j, k));
      }
    }
  }
  ebnd.sort((a, b) => b.log2.compareTo(a.log2)); // descending order
  final ndx = cnt - n;
  if (ndx < 0) throw Exception("nthHamming:  not enough triples generated!!!");
  if (ndx >= ebnd.length) throw Exception("nthHamming:  error band is too narrow!!!");
  return ebnd[ndx];
}

void main() {
  final numhams = 1000000;
  var nthhamseqstr = "The first 20 Hamming numbers are:  ( ";
  for (var i = 1; i <= 20; ++i) {
    nthhamseqstr += trival2BigInt(nthHamming(i)).toString() + " ";
  }
  print(nthhamseqstr + ")");
  final strt = DateTime.now().millisecondsSinceEpoch;
  final answr = nthHamming(numhams);
  final elpsd = DateTime.now().millisecondsSinceEpoch - strt0;
  print("The ${numhams}th Hamming number is:  $answr");
  print("in full as:  ${trival2BigInt(answr)}");
  print("This test took $elpsd milliseconds.");
}

The output from the above code is the same as the above version but it is so fast that the time to find the millionth Hamming number is too small to be measured other than the Dart VM JIT time. It can find the billionth prime in a fraction of a second and the trillionth prime in seconds.

Increasing the range above 1e13 by using a BigInt log base two representation

For arguments higher than about 1e13, the precision of the Double log base two approximations used above is not adequate to do an accurate sort, but the algorithm continues to work (although perhaps slightly slower) by changing the code to use BigInt log base two representations as follows:

import 'dart:math';

final biglb2of2 = BigInt.from(1) << 100; // 100 bit representations...
final biglb2of3 = (BigInt.from(1784509131911002) << 50) + BigInt.from(134114660393120);
final biglb2of5 = (BigInt.from(2614258625728952) << 50) + BigInt.from(773584997695443);

class BigTrival {
  final BigInt log2;
  final int twos;
  final int threes;
  final int fives;
  @override String toString() {
    return this.log2.toString() + " "
      + this.twos.toString() + " "
      + this.threes.toString() + " "
      + this.fives.toString();
  }
  const BigTrival(this.log2, this.twos, this.threes, this.fives);
}

BigInt bigtrival2BigInt(BigTrival tv) {
  return BigInt.from(2).pow(tv.twos)
           * BigInt.from(3).pow(tv.threes)
           * BigInt.from(5).pow(tv.fives);
}

BigTrival nthHamming(int n) {
  if (n < 1) throw Exception("nthHamming:  argument must be higher than 0!!!");
  if (n < 7) {
    if (n & (n - 1) == 0) {
      final bts = n.bitLength - 1;
      return BigTrival(BigInt.from(bts) << 100, bts, 0, 0);
    }
    switch (n) {
      case 3: return BigTrival(biglb2of3, 0, 1, 0);
      case 5: return BigTrival(biglb2of5, 0, 0, 1);
      case 6: return BigTrival(biglb2of2 + biglb2of3, 1, 1, 0);
    }
  }
  final fctr = lb2of3 * lb2of5 * 6;
  final crctn = log(sqrt(30.0)) / log(2.0);
  final lb2est = pow(fctr * n.toDouble(), 1.0/3.0) - crctn;
  final lb2rng = 2.0/lb2est;
  final lb2hi = lb2est + 1.0/lb2est;
  List<BigTrival> ebnd = [];
  var cnt = 0;
  for (var k = 0; k < (lb2hi / lb2of5).ceil(); ++k) {
    final lb2p = lb2hi - k * lb2of5;
    for (var j = 0; j < (lb2p / lb2of3).ceil(); ++j) {
      final lb2q = lb2p - j * lb2of3;
      final i = lb2q.floor(); final lb2frac = lb2q - i;
      cnt += i + 1;
      if (lb2frac <= lb2rng) {
//        final lb2v = i * lb2of2 + j * lb2of3 + k * lb2of5;
//        ebnd.add(Trival(lb2v, i, j, k));
        final lb2v = BigInt.from(i) * biglb2of2
                        + BigInt.from(j) * biglb2of3
                        + BigInt.from(k) * biglb2of5;
        ebnd.add(BigTrival(lb2v, i, j, k));
      }
    }
  }
  ebnd.sort((a, b) => b.log2.compareTo(a.log2)); // descending order
  final ndx = cnt - n;
  if (ndx < 0) throw Exception("nthHamming:  not enough triples generated!!!");
  if (ndx >= ebnd.length) throw Exception("nthHamming:  error band is too narrow!!!");
  return ebnd[ndx];
}

void main() {
  final numhams = 1000000000;
  var nthhamseqstr = "The first 20 Hamming numbers are:  ( ";
  for (var i = 1; i <= 20; ++i) {
    nthhamseqstr += bigtrival2BigInt(nthHamming(i)).toString() + " ";
  }
  print(nthhamseqstr + ")");
  final strt = DateTime.now().millisecondsSinceEpoch;
  final answr = nthHamming(numhams);
  final elpsd = DateTime.now().millisecondsSinceEpoch - strt;
  print("The ${numhams}th Hamming number is:  $answr");
  print("in full as:  ${bigtrival2BigInt(answr)}");
  print("This test took $elpsd milliseconds.");
}

With these changes, the algorithm can find the 1e19'th prime in the order af days depending on the CPU used.

DCL

$ limit = p1
$
$ n = 0
$ h_'n = 1
$ x2 = 2
$ x3 = 3
$ x5 = 5
$ i = 0
$ j = 0
$ k = 0
$
$ n = 1
$ loop:
$  x = x2
$  if x3 .lt. x then $ x = x3
$  if x5 .lt. x then $ x = x5
$  h_'n = x
$  if x2 .eq. h_'n
$  then
$   i = i + 1
$   x2 = 2 * h_'i
$  endif
$  if x3 .eq. h_'n
$  then
$   j = j + 1
$   x3 = 3 * h_'j
$  endif
$  if x5 .eq. h_'n
$  then
$   k = k + 1
$   x5 = 5 * h_'k
$  endif
$  n = n + 1
$  if n .le. limit then $ goto loop
$
$ i = 0
$ loop2:
$  write sys$output h_'i
$  i = i + 1
$  if i .lt. 20 then $ goto loop2
$
$ n = limit - 1
$ write sys$output h_'n
Output:
Here's the output;

$ @hamming 1691
1
2
3
4
5
6
8
9
10
12
15
16
18
20
24
25
27
30
32
36
2125764000

Delphi

See Pascal.

Eiffel

note
	description    : "Initial part, in order, of the sequence of Hamming numbers"
	math           : "[
			   Hamming numbers, also known as regular numbers and 5-smooth numbers, are natural integers
			   that have 2, 3 and 5 as their only prime factors.
		         ]"
	computer_arithmetic :
	                 "[
			   This version avoids integer overflow and stops at the last representable number in the sequence.
		         ]"
	output         : "[
    			   Per requirements of the RosettaCode example, execution will produce items of indexes 1 to 20 and 1691.
    			   The algorithm (procedure `hamming') is more general and will produce the first `n' Hamming numbers
    			   for any `n'.
    			  ]"
	source         : "This problem was posed in Edsger W. Dijkstra, A Discipline of Programming, Prentice Hall, 1978"
	date           : "8 August 2012"
	authors        : "Bertrand Meyer", "Emmanuel Stapf"
	revision       : "1.0"
	libraries      : "Relies on SORTED_TWO_WAY_LIST from EiffelBase"
	implementation : "[
			   Using SORTED_TWO_WAY_LIST provides an elegant illustration of how to implement
			   a lazy scheme in Eiffel through the use of object-oriented data structures.
			 ]"
	warning        : "[
			   The formatting (<syntaxhighlight lang="text">) specifications for Eiffel in RosettaCode are slightly obsolete:
			   `note' and other newer keywords not supported, red color for manifest strings.
			   This should be fixed soon.
		         ]"

class
	APPLICATION

create
	make

feature {NONE} -- Initialization

	make
			-- Print first 20 Hamming numbers, in order, and the 1691-st one.
		local
			Hammings: like hamming
				-- List of Hamming numbers, up to 1691-st one.
		do
			Hammings := hamming (1691)
			across 1 |..| 20 as i loop
				io.put_natural (Hammings.i_th (i.item)); io.put_string (" ")
			end
			io.put_new_line; io.put_natural (Hammings.i_th (1691)); io.put_new_line
		end

feature -- Basic operations

	hamming (n: INTEGER): ARRAYED_LIST [NATURAL]
			-- First `n' elements (in order) of the Hamming sequence,
			-- or as many of them as will not produce overflow.
		local
			sl: SORTED_TWO_WAY_LIST [NATURAL]
			overflow: BOOLEAN
			first, next: NATURAL
		do
			create Result.make (n); create sl.make
			sl.extend (1); sl.start
			across 1 |..| n as i invariant
				-- "The numbers output so far are the first `i' - 1 Hamming numbers, in order".
				-- "Result.first is the `i'-th Hamming number."
			until sl.is_empty loop
				first := sl.first; sl.start
				Result.extend (first); sl.remove
				across << 2, 3, 5 >> as multiplier loop
					next := multiplier.item * first
					overflow := overflow or next <= first
					if not overflow and then not sl.has (next) then sl.extend (next) end
				end
			end
		end
end
Output:
1
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36
2125764000

Elixir

defmodule Hamming do
  def generater do
    queues = [{2, queue}, {3, queue}, {5, queue}]
    Stream.unfold({1, queues}, fn {n, q} -> next(n, q) end)
  end
  
  defp next(n, queues) do
    queues = Enum.map(queues, fn {m, queue} -> {m, push(queue, m*n)} end)
    min    = Enum.map(queues, fn {_, queue} -> top(queue) end) |> Enum.min
    queues = Enum.map(queues, fn {m, queue} ->
               {m, (if min==top(queue), do: erase_top(queue), else: queue)}
             end)
    {n, {min, queues}}
  end
  
  defp queue, do: {[], []}
  
  defp push({input, output}, term), do: {[term | input], output}
  
  defp top({input, []}), do: List.last(input)
  defp top({_, [h|_]}), do: h
  
  defp erase_top({input, []}), do: erase_top({[], Enum.reverse(input)})
  defp erase_top({input, [_|t]}), do: {input, t}
end

IO.puts "first twenty Hamming numbers:"
IO.inspect Hamming.generater |> Enum.take(20)
IO.puts "1691st Hamming number:"
IO.puts Hamming.generater |> Enum.take(1691) |> List.last
IO.puts "one millionth Hamming number:"
IO.puts Hamming.generater |> Enum.take(1_000_000) |> List.last
Output:
first twenty Hamming numbers:
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 36]
1691st Hamming number:
2125764000
one millionth Hamming number:
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Elm

The Elm language has many restrictions that make the implementation of the Hamming Number sequence algorithms difficult, as the classic Edsger Dijkstra algorithm as written in Haskell Hamming_numbers#The_classic_version cannot be written in Elm as current Elm forbids cyclic value references (the value "hamming" is back referenced three times), and the implementation wouldn't be efficient even if it could as the current Elm version 0.19.x has removed the "Lazy" package the would defer the memoization of the result of a computation as necessary in implementing Haskell's lazy lists. Thus, one has to implement memoization using a different data structure than a lazy list; however, all current Elm data structures are persistent/forbid mutation and can only implement some sort of Copy On Write (COW), thus there is no implementation of a linear array and the "Array" module is a tree based structure (with some concessions to data blocks for slightly better performance) that will have a logarithmic execution complexity when the size increases above a minimum. In fact, all Elm data structures that could be used for this also have a logarithmic response (Dict, Set, Array). The implementation of List is not lazy so new elements can't be added to the "tail" but need to be added to the "head" for efficiency, which means if one wants to add higher elements to a list in increasing order, one needs to (COW) reverse the List (twice) in order to do it!

The solution here uses a pure functional implementation of a Min Heap (Binary Heap) Priority Queue so that the minimum element can be viewed in O(1) time although inserting new elements/replacing elements still takes O(log n) time where "n" is the number of elements in the queue. As written, no queue needs to be maintained for the multiples of five, but two queues are maintained, one for the merge of the multiples of five and three, and the larger one for the merge of all the multiples of five, three, and two. In order to minimize redundant computation time, the implementation maintains the "next" comparison values as part of the recursive function loop states that can change with every loop.

To express the sequence, a Co-Inductive Stream (CIS) is used as a deferred execution (lazy) stream; it does not memoize computations (as discussed above) but that isn't necessary for this application where the sequence is only traversed once and consumed as being traversed.

In addition, in order to reduce the "BigInt" computation time, the calculations are done on the basis of a "Float" logarithmic approximation while maintaining "Trival" triple representation of the number of powers of two, three, and five, are multiplied in order to obtain the current value represented by the logarithmic approximation. The working code is as follows:

module Main exposing ( main )

import Bitwise exposing (..)
import BigInt
import Task exposing ( Task, succeed, perform, andThen )
import Html exposing ( div, text )
import Browser exposing ( element )
import Time exposing ( now, posixToMillis )

cLIMIT : Int
cLIMIT = 1000000

-- an infinite non-empty non-memoizing Co-Inductive Stream (CIS)...
type CIS a = CIS a (() -> CIS a)

takeCIS2List : Int -> CIS a -> List a
takeCIS2List n cis =
  let loop i (CIS hd tl) lst =
        if i < 1 then List.reverse lst
        else loop (i - 1) (tl()) (hd :: lst)
  in loop n cis []

nthCIS : Int -> CIS a -> a
nthCIS n (CIS hd tl) =
  if n <= 1 then hd else nthCIS (n - 1) (tl())

type PriorityQ comparable v =
  Mt
  | Br comparable v (PriorityQ comparable v)
                    (PriorityQ comparable v)

emptyPQ : PriorityQ comparable v
emptyPQ = Mt

peekMinPQ : PriorityQ comparable v -> Maybe (comparable, v)
peekMinPQ  pq = case pq of
                  (Br k v _ _) -> Just (k, v)
                  Mt -> Nothing

pushPQ : comparable -> v -> PriorityQ comparable v
           -> PriorityQ comparable v
pushPQ wk wv pq =
  case pq of
    Mt -> Br wk wv Mt Mt
    (Br vk vv pl pr) -> 
      if wk <= vk then Br wk wv (pushPQ vk vv pr) pl
      else Br vk vv (pushPQ wk wv pr) pl

siftdown : comparable -> v -> PriorityQ comparable v
             -> PriorityQ comparable v -> PriorityQ comparable v
siftdown wk wv pql pqr =
  case pql of
    Mt -> Br wk wv Mt Mt
    (Br vkl vvl pll prl) ->
      case pqr of
        Mt -> if wk <= vkl then Br wk wv pql Mt
              else Br vkl vvl (Br wk wv Mt Mt) Mt
        (Br vkr vvr plr prr) ->
          if wk <= vkl && wk <= vkr then Br wk wv pql pqr
          else if vkl <= vkr then Br vkl vvl (siftdown wk wv pll prl) pqr
               else Br vkr vvr pql (siftdown wk wv plr prr)

replaceMinPQ : comparable -> v -> PriorityQ comparable v
                 -> PriorityQ comparable v
replaceMinPQ wk wv pq = case pq of
                          Mt -> Mt
                          (Br _ _ pl pr) -> siftdown wk wv pl pr

type alias Trival = (Int, Int, Int)
showTrival : Trival -> String
showTrival tv =
  let (x2, x3, x5) = tv
      xpnd x m r =
        if x <= 0 then r
        else xpnd (shiftRightBy 1 x) (BigInt.mul m m)
                  (if (and 1 x) /= 0 then BigInt.mul m r else r)
  in BigInt.fromInt 1 |> xpnd x2 (BigInt.fromInt 2)
       |> xpnd x3 (BigInt.fromInt 3) |> xpnd x5 (BigInt.fromInt 5)
       |> BigInt.toString

type alias LogRep = { lr: Float, trv: Trival }
ltLogRep : LogRep -> LogRep -> Bool
ltLogRep lra lrb = lra.lr < lrb.lr
oneLogRep : LogRep
oneLogRep = { lr = 0.0, trv = (0, 0, 0) }
lg2_2 : Float
lg2_2 = 1.0 -- log base two of two
lg2_3 : Float
lg2_3 = logBase 2.0 3.0
lg2_5 : Float
lg2_5 = logBase 2.0 5.0
multLR2 : LogRep -> LogRep
multLR2 lr = let (x2, x3, x5) = lr.trv
             in LogRep (lr.lr + lg2_2) (x2 + 1, x3, x5)
multLR3 : LogRep -> LogRep
multLR3 lr = let (x2, x3, x5) = lr.trv
             in LogRep (lr.lr + lg2_3) (x2, x3 + 1, x5)
multLR5 : LogRep -> LogRep
multLR5 lr = let (x2, x3, x5) = lr.trv
             in LogRep (lr.lr + lg2_5) (x2, x3, x5 + 1)

hammingsLog : () -> CIS Trival
hammingsLog() =
  let im235 = multLR2 oneLogRep
      im35 = multLR3 oneLogRep
      imrg = im35
      im5 = multLR5 oneLogRep
      next bpq mpq m235 mrg m35 m5 =
        if ltLogRep m235 mrg then
          let omin = case peekMinPQ bpq of
                       Just (lr, trv) -> LogRep lr trv
                       Nothing -> m235 -- at the beginning!
              nm235 = multLR2 omin
              nbpq = replaceMinPQ m235.lr m235.trv bpq
          in CIS m235.trv <| \ () ->
               next nbpq mpq nm235 mrg m35 m5
        else
          if ltLogRep mrg m5 then
            let omin = case peekMinPQ mpq of
                         Just (lr, trv) -> LogRep lr trv
                         Nothing -> mrg -- at the beginning!
                nm35 = multLR3 omin
                nmrg = if ltLogRep nm35 m5 then nm35 else m5
                nmpq = replaceMinPQ mrg.lr mrg.trv mpq
                nbpq = pushPQ mrg.lr mrg.trv bpq
            in CIS mrg.trv <| \ () ->
                 next nbpq nmpq m235 nmrg nm35 m5
          else
            let nm5 = multLR5 m5
                nmrg = if ltLogRep m35 nm5 then m35 else nm5
                nmpq = pushPQ m5.lr m5.trv mpq
                nbpq = pushPQ m5.lr m5.trv bpq
            in CIS m5.trv <| \ () ->
                 next nbpq nmpq m235 nmrg m35 nm5
  in CIS (0, 0, 0) <| \ () ->
       next emptyPQ emptyPQ im235 imrg im35 im5

timemillis : () -> Task Never Int -- a side effect function
timemillis() = now |> andThen (\ t -> succeed (posixToMillis t))

test : Int -> Cmd Msg -- side effect function chain (includes "perform")...
test lmt =
  let msg1 = "The first 20 Hamming numbers are:  " ++
                (hammingsLog() |> takeCIS2List 20
                               |> List.map showTrival
                               |> String.join ", ") ++ "."
      msg2 = "The 1691st Hamming number is " ++
                (hammingsLog() |> nthCIS 1691
                               |> showTrival) ++ "."
      msg3 = "The " ++ String.fromInt cLIMIT ++ "th Hamming number is:"
  in timemillis()
    |> andThen (\ strt ->
       let rsltstr = hammingsLog() |> nthCIS lmt
                                   |> showTrival in
       timemillis()
         |> andThen (\ stop ->
              succeed [msg1, msg2, msg3, rsltstr ++ " in "
                         ++ String.fromInt (stop - strt)
                         ++ " milliseconds."]))
    |> perform Done

-- following code has to do with outputting to a web page using MUV/TEA...

type alias Model = List String

type Msg = Done Model

main : Program () Model Msg
main = -- starts with empty list of strings; views model of filled list...
  element { init = \ _ -> ( [], test cLIMIT )
          , update = \ (Done mdl) _ -> ( mdl , Cmd.none )
          , subscriptions = \ _ -> Sub.none
          , view = div [] << List.map (div [] << List.singleton << text) }
Output:
The first 20 Hamming numbers are: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 36.
The 1691st Hamming number is 2125764000.
The 1000000th Hamming number is:
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 in 767 milliseconds.

Do note that, due to the logarithmic response of the Min Heap Priority Queue, the execution time is logarithmic with number of elements evaluation and not linear as it would otherwise be, so if it takes 0.7 seconds to find the millionth Hamming number, it takes something about 10 seconds to find the ten millionth value instead of about 7 seconds. Considering that the generated "native" code is just JavaScript, it is reasonably fast and somewhat competitive with easier implementations in other languages such as F#.

Erlang

For relatively small values of n we can use an elegant code:

list(N) -> array:to_list(element(1, array(N, [2, 3, 5]))).

nth(N) -> array:get(N-1, element(1, array(N, [2, 3, 5]))).

array(N, Primes) -> array(array:new(), N, 1, [{P, 1, P} || P <- Primes]).

array(Array, Max, Max, Candidates) -> {Array, Candidates};
array(Array, Max, I, Candidates) ->
	Smallest = smallest(Candidates),
 	N_array = array:set(I, Smallest, Array),
	array(N_array, Max, I+1, update(Smallest, N_array, Candidates)).

update(Val, Array, Candidates) -> [update_(Val, C, Array) || C <- Candidates].

update_(Val, {Val, Ind, Mul}, Array) ->
	{Mul*array:get(Ind, Array), Ind+1, Mul};
update_(_, X, _) -> X.

smallest(L) -> lists:min([element(1, V) || V <- L]).

However, when n become large (let say above 5e7) the memory needed grew very large as I store all the values. Fortunately, the algorithm uses only a small fraction of the end of the array. So I can drop the beginning of the array when it is no longer needed.

nth(N, Batch) ->
	array:get(N-1, element(1, compact_array(N, Batch, [2, 3, 5]))).

compact_array(Goal, Lim, Primes) ->
	{Array, Candidates} = array(Lim, Primes),
	compact_array(Goal, Lim, Lim, Array, Candidates).

compact_array(Goal, _, Index, Array, Candidates) when Index > Goal ->
	{Array, Candidates};
compact_array(Goal, Lim, Index, Array, Candidates) ->
	{N_array, N_candidates} =
	        array(compact(Array, Candidates), Index + Lim, Index, Candidates),
	compact_array(Goal, Lim, Index+Lim, N_array, N_candidates).

compact(Array, L) ->
	Index = lists:min([element(2, V) || V <- L]),
	Keep = [E || E <- array:sparse_to_orddict(Array), element(1, E) >= Index],
	array:from_orddict(Keep).

With this approach memory is no longer an issue:

Output:
timer:tc(task_hamming_numbers, nth, [100_000_000, 1_000_000]).
{232894309,
 18140143309611363532953342430693354584669635033709097929462505366714035156593135818380467866054222964635144914854949550271375442721368122191972041094311075107507067573147191502194201568268202614781694681859513649083616294200541611489469967999559505365172812095568020073934100699850397033005903158113691518456912149989919601385875227049401605594538145621585911726469930727034807205200195312500}

So a bit less than 4 minutes to get the 100 000 000th regular number. The complexity is slightly worse than linear which is not a surprise given than all the regular numbers are computed.

ERRE

For bigger numbers, you have to use an external program, like MULPREC.R

PROGRAM HAMMING


!$DOUBLE

DIM H[2000]

PROCEDURE HAMMING(L%->RES)
      LOCAL I%,J%,K%,N%,M,X2,X3,X5
      H[0]=1
      X2=2  X3=3  X5=5
      FOR N%=1 TO L%-1 DO
        M=X2
        IF M>X3 THEN M=X3 END IF
        IF M>X5 THEN M=X5 END IF
        H[N%]=M
        IF M=X2 THEN I%+=1  X2=2*H[I%]  END IF
        IF M=X3 THEN J%+=1  X3=3*H[J%]  END IF
        IF M=X5 THEN K%+=1  X5=5*H[K%]  END IF
      END FOR
      RES=H[L%-1]
END PROCEDURE

BEGIN
      FOR H%=1 TO 20 DO
        HAMMING(H%->RES)
        PRINT("H(";H%;")=";RES)
      END FOR
      HAMMING(1691->RES)
      PRINT("H(1691)=";RES)
END PROGRAM
Output:
H( 1 )= 1

H( 2 )= 2 H( 3 )= 3 H( 4 )= 4 H( 5 )= 5 H( 6 )= 6 H( 7 )= 8 H( 8 )= 9 H( 9 )= 10 H( 10 )= 12 H( 11 )= 15 H( 12 )= 16 H( 13 )= 18 H( 14 )= 20 H( 15 )= 24 H( 16 )= 25 H( 17 )= 27 H( 18 )= 30 H( 19 )= 32 H( 20 )= 36 H(1691)= 2125764000

F#

This version implements Dijkstra's merge solution, so is closely related to the Haskell classic version.

type LazyList<'a> = Cons of 'a * Lazy<LazyList<'a>>

let rec hammings() =
  let rec (-|-) (Cons(x, nxf) as xs) (Cons(y, nyf) as ys) =
    if x < y then Cons(x, lazy(nxf.Value -|- ys))
    elif x > y then Cons(y, lazy(xs -|- nyf.Value))
    else Cons(x, lazy(nxf.Value -|- nyf.Value))
  let rec inf_map f (Cons(x, nxf)) =
    Cons(f x, lazy(inf_map f nxf.Value))
  Cons(1I, lazy(let x = inf_map ((*) 2I) hamming
                let y = inf_map ((*) 3I) hamming
                let z = inf_map ((*) 5I) hamming
                x -|- y -|- z))

// testing...    
[<EntryPoint>]
let main args =
  let rec iterLazyListFor f n (Cons(v, rf)) = 
    if n > 0 then f v; iterLazyListFor f (n - 1) rf.Value
  let rec nthLazyList n ((Cons(v, rf)) as ll) =
    if n <= 1 then v else nthLazyList (n - 1) rf.Value
  printf "( "; iterLazyListFor (printf "%A ") 20 (hammings()); printfn ")"
  printfn "%A" (hammings() |> nthLazyList 1691)
  printfn "%A" (hammings() |> nthLazyList 1000000)
  0

The above code memory residency is quite high as it holds the entire lazy sequence in memory due to the reference preventing garbage collection as the sequence is consumed,

The following code reduces that high memory residency by making the routine a function and using internal local stream references for the intermediate streams so that they can be collected as the stream is consumed as long as no reference is held to the main results stream (which is not in the sample test functions); it also avoids duplication of factors by successively building up streams and further reduces memory use by ordering of the streams so that the least dense are determined first:

Translation of: Haskell
let cNUMVALS = 1000000

type LazyList<'a> = Cons of 'a * Lazy<LazyList<'a>>

let hammings() =
  let rec merge (Cons(x, f) as xs) (Cons(y, g) as ys) =
    if x < y then Cons(x, lazy(merge (f.Force()) ys))
    else Cons(y, lazy(merge xs (g.Force())))
  let rec smult m (Cons(x, rxs)) =
    Cons(m * x, lazy(smult m (rxs.Force())))
  let rec first = smult 5I (Cons(1I, lazy first))
  let u s n = 
    let rec r = merge s (smult n (Cons(1I, lazy r))) in r
  Seq.unfold (fun (Cons(hd, rst)) -> Some (hd, rst.Value))
             (Cons(1I, lazy(Seq.fold u first [| 3I; 2I |])))

[<EntryPoint>]
let main argv =
  printf "( "; hammings() |> Seq.take 20 |> Seq.iter (printf "%A "); printfn ")"
  printfn "%A" (hammings() |> Seq.item (1691 - 1))
  let strt = System.DateTime.Now.Ticks
 
  let rslt = (hammings()) |> Seq.item (cNUMVALS - 1)
 
  let stop = System.DateTime.Now.Ticks
 
  printfn "%A" rslt  
  printfn "Found this last up to %d in %d milliseconds." cNUMVALS ((stop - strt) / 10000L)
 
  0 // return an integer exit code

Both codes output the same results as follows but the second is over three times faster:

Output:
( 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 )
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Found this last up to 1000000 in 1302 milliseconds.

Both codes are over 10 times slower as compared to Haskell (or Kotlin or Scala or Clojure) when all are written in exactly the same style, perhaps due in some small degree to the BigInteger implementation being much slower for these operations than GMP and the JVM's implementation of BigInteger. Much of this is due to that the DotNet runtime does not allocate from a memory pool as the Haskell and JVM runtime's do, which is much slower when allocating for these functional algorithms where many small allocations/de-allocations are necessary.

Fast somewhat imperative sequence version using logarithms

Since the above pure functional approach isn't very efficient, a more imperative approach using "growable" arrays which are "drained" of unnecessary older values in blocks once the back pointer indices are advanced is used in the following code. The code also implements an algorithm to avoid duplicate calculations and thus does the same number of operations as the above code but faster due to using integer and floating point operations rather an BigInteger ones. Due to the "draining" the memory use is the same as the above by a constant factor. Note that the implementation of IEnumerable using sequences in F# is also not very efficient and a "roll-your-own" IEnumerable implementation would likely be somewhat faster:

F# has a particularly slow enumeration ability in the use of the `Seq` type (although easy to use) so in order to be able to bypass that, the following code still uses the imperative `ResizeArray`'s but outputs a closure "next" function that can be used directly to avoid the generation of a `Seq` sequence where maximum speed is desired: Template:Tran

let cCOUNT = 1000000

type LogRep = struct val lr: double; val x2: uint32; val x3: uint32; val x5: uint32
                     new(lr, x2, x3, x5) = {lr = lr; x2 = x2; x3 = x3; x5 = x5 } end
let one: LogRep = LogRep(0.0, 0u, 0u, 0u)
let lg2_2: double = 1.0
let lg3_2: double = log 3.0 / log 2.0
let lg5_2: double = log 5.0 / log 2.0
let inline mul2 (lr: LogRep): LogRep = LogRep(lr.lr + lg2_2, lr.x2 + 1u, lr.x3, lr.x5)
let inline mul3 (lr: LogRep): LogRep = LogRep(lr.lr + lg3_2, lr.x2, lr.x3 + 1u, lr.x5)
let inline mul5 (lr: LogRep): LogRep = LogRep(lr.lr + lg5_2, lr.x2, lr.x3, lr.x5 + 1u)

let hammingsLog() = // imperative arrays, eliminates the BigInteger operations...
  let s2 = ResizeArray<_>() in let s3 = ResizeArray<_>()
  s2.Add(one); s3.Add(mul3 one)
  let mutable s5 = mul5 one in let mutable mrg = mul3 one
  let mutable s2hdi = 0 in let mutable s3hdi = 0
  let next() = // imperative next function to advance value
    if s2hdi + s2hdi >= s2.Count then s2.RemoveRange(0, s2hdi); s2hdi <- 0
    let mutable rslt: LogRep = s2.[s2hdi]
    if rslt.lr < mrg.lr then s2.Add(mul2 rslt); s2hdi <- s2hdi + 1
    else
      if s3hdi + s3hdi >= s3.Count then s3.RemoveRange(0, s3hdi); s3hdi <- 0
      rslt <- mrg; s2.Add(mul2 rslt); s3.Add(mul3 rslt); s3hdi <- s3hdi + 1
      let chkv: LogRep = s3.[s3hdi]
      if chkv.lr < s5.lr then  mrg <- chkv
      else mrg <- s5; s5 <- mul5 s5; s3hdi <- s3hdi - 1    
    rslt
  next

let hl2Seq f = Seq.unfold (fun v -> Some(v, f())) (f())
let nthLogHamming n f =
  let rec nxt i = if i >= n then f() else f() |> ignore; nxt (i + 1) in nxt 0

let lr2BigInt (lr: LogRep) = // convert trival to BigInteger
  let rec xpnd n mlt rslt =
    if n <= 0u then rslt
    else xpnd (n - 1u) mlt (mlt * rslt)
  xpnd lr.x2 2I 1I |> xpnd lr.x3 3I |> xpnd lr.x5 5I

[<EntryPoint>]
let main argv =
  printf "( "; hammingsLog() |> hl2Seq |> Seq.take 20
            |> Seq.iter (printf "%A " << lr2BigInt); printfn ")"
  printfn "%A" (hammingsLog() |> hl2Seq |> Seq.item (1691 - 1) |> lr2BigInt)
  let strt = System.DateTime.Now.Ticks
// slow way using Seq:
//  let rslt = (hammingsLog()) |> hl2Seq |> Seq.item (1000000 - 1)
// fast way using closure directly:
  let rslt = (hammingsLog()) |> nthLogHamming (1000000 - 1)

  let stop = System.DateTime.Now.Ticks

  printfn "%A" (rslt |> lr2BigInt)  
  printfn "Found this last up to %d in %d milliseconds." cCOUNT ((stop - strt) / 10000L)
  
  printfn ""
  0 // return an integer exit code
Output:
( 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 )
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Found this last up to 1000000 in 57 milliseconds.

The above code can find the billionth Hamming number in about 60 seconds on the same Intel i5-6500 at 3.6 GHz (single threaded boosted). If the "fast way" is commented out and the commenting out removed from the "slow way", the code is about twice as slow.

Extremely fast non-enumerating version sorting values in error band

If one is willing to forego sequences and just calculate the nth Hamming number, then some reading on the relationship between the size of numbers to the sequence numbers is helpful (Wikipedia: regular number). One finds that there is a very distinct relationship and that it quite quickly reduces to quite a small error band proportional to the log of the output value for larger ranges. Thus, the following code just scans for logarithmic representations to insert into a sequence for this top error band and extracts the correct nth representation from that band. It reduces time complexity to O(n^(2/3)) from O(n) for the sequence versions, but even more amazingly, reduces memory requirements to O(n^(1/3)) from O(n^(2/3)) and thus makes it possible to calculate very large values in the sequence on common personal computers. The code is as follows:

Translation of: Haskell
let nthHamming n =
  if n < 1UL then failwith "nthHamming; argument must be > 0!"
  if n < 2UL then 0u, 0u, 0u else // trivial case for first value of one
  let lb3 = 1.5849625007211561814537389439478 // Math.Log(3) / Math.Log(2);
  let lb5 = 2.3219280948873623478703194294894 // Math.Log(5) / Math.Log(2);
  let fctr = 6.0 * lb3 * lb5
  let crctn = 2.4534452978042592646620291867186 // Math.Log(Math.sqrt(30.0)) / Math.Log(2.0)
  let lbest = (fctr * double n) ** (1.0/3.0) - crctn // from WP formula
  let lbhi = lbest + 1.0 / lbest
  let lblo = 2.0 * lbest - lbhi // upper and lower bound of upper "band"
  let klmt = uint32 (lbhi / lb5)
  let rec loopk k kcnt kbnd =
    if k > klmt then kcnt, kbnd else
      let p = lbhi - double k * lb5
      let jlmt = uint32 (p / lb3)
      let rec loopj j jcnt jbnd =
        if j > jlmt then loopk (k + 1u) jcnt jbnd else
          let q = p - double j * lb3
          let i = uint32 q
          let lg = lbhi - q + double i // current log 2 value (estimated)
          let nbnd = if lg >= lblo then (lg, (uint32 i, j, k)) :: jbnd else jbnd
          loopj (j + 1u) (jcnt + uint64 i + 1UL) nbnd in loopj 0u kcnt kbnd
  let count, bnd = loopk 0u 0UL [] // 64-bit value so doesn't overflow
  if n > count then failwith "nthHamming:  band high estimate is too low!"
  let ndx = int (count - n)
  if ndx >= bnd.Length then failwith "NthHamming.findNth:  band low estimate is too high!"
  let sbnd = bnd |> List.sortBy (fun (lg, _) -> -lg) // sort in decending order
  let _, rslt = sbnd.[ndx]
  rslt

[<EntryPoint>]
let main argv =
  let topNum = 1000000UL
  printf "( "; {1..20} |> Seq.iter (printf "%A " << trival << nthHamming << uint64); printfn ")"
  printfn "%A" (nthHamming 1691UL |> trival)
  let rslt = nthHammingx topNum
  let strt = System.DateTime.Now.Ticks

  let rslt = nthHamming topNum

  let stop = System.DateTime.Now.Ticks

  let x2, x3, x5 = rslt
  printfn "2**%A times 3**%A times 5**%A" x2 x3 x5
  let lgrthm = log10 2.0 * (double x2 + (double x3 * log 3.0 + double x5 * log 5.0) / log 2.0)
  let exp = floor lgrthm |> int
  let mntsa = 10.0 ** (lgrthm - double exp)
  printfn "Approximately %AE+%A" mntsa exp
  let s = trival rslt |> string
  let lngth = s.Length
  printfn "Digits:  %A" lngth
  if lngth <= 10000 then
    {0..100..lngth-1}
      |> Seq.iter (fun i ->
        printfn "%s" (s.Substring(i, if i + 100 < lngth then 100 else lngth - i)))
  
  printfn "\r\nFound this last up to %A in %A milliseconds." topNum ((stop - strt) / 10000L)
  
  printf "\r\nPress any key to exit:"
  System.Console.ReadKey(true) |> ignore
  printfn ""
  0 // return an integer exit code
Output:
( 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 )
2125764000
2**55u times 3**47u times 5**64u
Approximately 5.193127804E+83
Digits:  84
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Found this last up to 1000000UL in 0L milliseconds.

Even though the above code is implemented in a completely functional style using immutable bindings and (non-lazy) lists (without closures), it is about as fast as implementations in the fastest of languages. It is faster than the Haskell version due to that version using lazy lists with the overhead of creating the requisite "thunks".

It takes too short a time to be measured to calculate the millionth Hamming number, the billionth number in the sequence can be calculated in just about 15 milliseconds, the trillionth in about one second, the thousand trillionth in about a hundred seconds, and it should be possible to calculate the 10^19th value in less than a day (untested) on common personal computers. The (2^64 - 1)th value (18446744073709551615) cannot be calculated due to a slight overflow problem as it approaches that limit.

Enhancement to by able to find Hamming numbers beyond the ten trillionth one

Due to the limited 53-bit mantissa of 64-bit double floating piint numbers, the above code can't properly sort the error band for input arguments somewhere above 10**13; the following code makes the sort accurate by using a multi-precision logarithm representation of sufficient precision so that the sort is accurate for arguments well beyond the uint64 input argument range, at about a doubling in cost in execution speed:

Translation of: Haskell
let nthHamming n =
  if n < 1UL then failwith "nthHamming:  argument must be > 0!"
  if n < 2UL then 0u, 0u, 0u else // trivial case for first value of one
  let lb3 = 1.5849625007211561814537389439478 // Math.Log(3) / Math.Log(2);
  let lb5 = 2.3219280948873623478703194294894 // Math.Log(5) / Math.Log(2);
  let fctr = 6.0 * lb3 * lb5
  let crctn = 2.4534452978042592646620291867186 // Math.Log(Math.sqrt(30.0)) / Math.Log(2.0)
  let lbest = (fctr * double n) ** (1.0/3.0) - crctn // from WP formula
  let lbhi = lbest + 1.0/lbest
  let lblo = 2.0 * lbest - lbhi // upper and lower bound of upper "band"
  let bglb2 = 1267650600228229401496703205376I
  let bglb3 = 2009178665378409109047848542368I
  let bglb5 = 2943393543170754072109742145491I
  let klmt = uint32 (lbhi / lb5)
  let rec loopk k kcnt kbnd =
    if k > klmt then kcnt, kbnd else
      let p = lbhi - double k * lb5
      let jlmt = uint32 (p / lb3)
      let rec loopj j jcnt jbnd =
        if j > jlmt then loopk (k + 1u) jcnt jbnd else
          let q = p - double j * lb3
          let i = uint32 q
          let lg = lbhi - q + double i // current log 2 value (estimated)
          let nbnd = if lg < lblo then jbnd else
                       let bglg = bglb2 * bigint i + bglb3 * bigint j + bglb5 * bigint k in
                       (bglg, (uint32 i, j, k)) :: jbnd
          loopj (j + 1u) (jcnt + uint64 i + 1UL) nbnd in loopj 0u kcnt kbnd
  let count, bnd = loopk 0u 0UL [] // 64-bit value so doesn't overflow
  if n > count then failwith "nthHamming:  band high estimate is too low!"
  let ndx = int (count - n)
  if ndx >= bnd.Length then failwith "NthHamming.findNth:  band low estimate is too high!"
  let sbnd = bnd |> List.sortBy (fun (lg, _) -> -lg) // sort in decending order
  let _, rslt = sbnd.[ndx]
  rslt

Factor

Translation of: Scala
USING: accessors deques dlists fry kernel make math math.order
;
IN: rosetta.hamming

TUPLE: hamming-iterator 2s 3s 5s ;

: <hamming-iterator> ( -- hamming-iterator )
    hamming-iterator new
        1 1dlist >>2s
        1 1dlist >>3s
        1 1dlist >>5s ;

: enqueue ( n hamming-iterator -- )
    [ [ 2 * ] [ 2s>> ] bi* push-back ]
    [ [ 3 * ] [ 3s>> ] bi* push-back ]
    [ [ 5 * ] [ 5s>> ] bi* push-back ] 2tri ;

: next ( hamming-iterator -- n )
    dup [ 2s>> ] [ 3s>> ] [ 5s>> ] tri
    3dup [ peek-front ] tri@ min min
    [
        '[
            dup peek-front _ =
            [ pop-front* ] [ drop ] if
        ] tri@
    ] [ swap enqueue ] [ ] tri ;

: next-n ( hamming-iterator n -- seq )
    swap '[ _ [ _ next , ] times ] { } make ;

: nth-from-now ( hamming-iterator n -- m )
    1 - over '[ _ next drop ] times next ;
 <hamming-iterator> 20 next-n .
 <hamming-iterator> 1691 nth-from-now .
 <hamming-iterator> 1000000 nth-from-now .
Translation of: Haskell

Lazy lists are quite slow in Factor, but still.

USING: combinators fry kernel lists lists.lazy locals math ;
IN: rosetta.hamming-lazy

:: sort-merge ( xs ys -- result )
    xs car :> x
    ys car :> y
    {
        { [ x y < ] [ [ x ] [ xs cdr ys sort-merge ] lazy-cons ] }
        { [ x y > ] [ [ y ] [ ys cdr xs sort-merge ] lazy-cons ] }
        [ [ x ] [ xs cdr ys cdr sort-merge ] lazy-cons ]
    } cond ;

:: hamming ( -- hamming )
    f :> h!
    [ 1 ] [
        h 2 3 5 [ '[ _ * ] lazy-map ] tri-curry@ tri
        sort-merge sort-merge
    ] lazy-cons h! h ;
 20 hamming ltake list>array .
 1690 hamming lnth .
 999999 hamming lnth .

Forth

Works with: Gforth version 0.7.0

This version uses a compact representation of Hamming numbers: each 64-bit cell represents a number 2^l*3^m*5^n, where l, n, and m are bitfields in the cell (20 bits for now). It also uses a fixed-point logarithm to compare the Hamming numbers and prints them in factored form. This code has been tested up to the 10^9th Hamming number.

\ manipulating and computing with Hamming numbers:

: extract2 ( h -- l )
    40 rshift ;

: extract3 ( h -- m )
    20 rshift $fffff and ;

: extract5 ( h -- n )
    $fffff and ;

' + alias h* ( h1 h2 -- h )

: h. { h -- }
    ." 2^"  h extract2 0 .r
    ." *3^" h extract3 0 .r
    ." *5^" h extract5 . ;

\ the following numbers have been produced with bc -l as follows
1 62 lshift constant ldscale2
 7309349404307464679 constant ldscale3 \ 2^62*l(3)/l(2) (rounded up)
10708003330985790206 constant ldscale5 \ 2^62*l(5)/l(2) (rounded down)

: hld { h -- ud }
    \ ud is a scaled fixed-point representation of the logarithm dualis of h
    h extract2 ldscale2 um*
    h extract3 ldscale3 um* d+
    h extract5 ldscale5 um* d+ ;

: h<= ( h1 h2 -- f )
    2dup = if
        2drop true exit
    then
    hld rot hld assert( 2over 2over d<> )
    du>= ;

: hmin ( h1 h2 -- h )
    2dup h<= if
        drop
    else
        nip
    then ;

\ actual algorithm

0 value seq
variable seqlast 0 seqlast !

: lastseq ( -- u )
    \ last stored number in the sequence 
    seq seqlast @ th @ ;

: genseq ( h1 "name" -- )
    \ h1 is the factor for the sequence
    create , 0 , \ factor and index of element used for last return
  does> ( -- u2 )
    \ u2 is the next number resulting from multiplying h1 with numbers
    \ in the sequence that is larger than the last number in the
    \ sequence
    dup @ lastseq { h1 l } cell+ dup @ begin ( index-addr index )
        seq over th @ h1 h* dup l h<= while
            drop 1+ repeat
    >r swap ! r> ;

$10000000000 genseq s2
$00000100000 genseq s3
$00000000001 genseq s5

: nextseq ( -- )
    s2 s3 hmin s5 hmin , 1 seqlast +! ;

: nthseq ( u1 -- h )
    \ the u1 th element in the sequence
    dup seqlast @ u+do
        nextseq
    loop
    1- 0 max cells seq + @ ;

: .nseq ( u1 -- )
    dup seqlast @ u+do
        nextseq
    loop
    0 u+do
        seq i th @ h.
    loop ;

here to seq
0 , \ that's 1

20 .nseq
cr    1691 nthseq h.
cr 1000000 nthseq h.
Output:
2^0*3^0*5^0 2^1*3^0*5^0 2^0*3^1*5^0 2^2*3^0*5^0 2^0*3^0*5^1 2^1*3^1*5^0 2^3*3^0*5^0 2^0*3^2*5^0 2^1*3^0*5^1 2^2*3^1*5^0 2^0*3^1*5^1 2^4*3^0*5^0 2^1*3^2*5^0 2^2*3^0*5^1 2^3*3^1*5^0 2^0*3^0*5^2 2^0*3^3*5^0 2^1*3^1*5^1 2^5*3^0*5^0 2^2*3^2*5^0 
2^5*3^12*5^3 
2^55*3^47*5^64

A smaller, less capable solution is presented here. It solves two out of three requirements and is ANS-Forth compliant.

2000 cells constant /hamming
create hamming /hamming allot
                   ( n1 n2 n3 n4 n5 n6 n7 -- n3 n4 n5 n6 n1 n2 n8)
: min? >r dup r> min >r 2rot r> ;

: hit?             ( n1 n2 n3 n4 n5 n6 n7 n8 -- n3 n4 n9 n10 n1 n2 n7)
  >r 2dup =        \ compare number with found minimum
  if -rot drop 1+ hamming over cells + @ r@ * rot then
  r> drop >r 2rot r>
;                  \ if so, increment and rotate

: hamming#         ( n1 -- n2)
  1 hamming ! >r   \ set first cell and initialize parms
  0 5 over 3 over 2
  r@ 1 ?do         \ determine minimum and set cell
     dup min? min? min? dup hamming i cells + !
     2 hit? 5 hit? 3 hit? drop
  loop             \ find if minimum equals value
  2drop 2drop 2drop hamming r> 1- cells + @
;                  \ clean up stack and fetch hamming number

: test
  cr 21 1 ?do i . i hamming# . cr loop
  1691 hamming# . cr
;

Fortran

Works with: Fortran version 90 and later

Using big_integer_module from here [1]

program Hamming_Test
  use big_integer_module
  implicit none
  
  call Hamming(1,20)
  write(*,*)
  call Hamming(1691)
  write(*,*)
  call Hamming(1000000)
   
contains

subroutine Hamming(first, last)

  integer, intent(in) :: first
  integer, intent(in), optional :: last
  integer :: i, n, i2, i3, i5, lim
  type(big_integer), allocatable :: hnums(:)

  if(present(last)) then
    lim = last
  else
    lim = first
  end if

  if(first < 1 .or. lim > 2500000 ) then
    write(*,*) "Invalid input"
    return
  end if
  
  allocate(hnums(lim))
  
  i2 = 1 ;  i3 = 1 ; i5 = 1  
  hnums(1) = 1
  n = 1
  do while(n < lim)
    n = n + 1
    hnums(n) = mini(2*hnums(i2), 3*hnums(i3), 5*hnums(i5))
    if(2*hnums(i2) == hnums(n)) i2 = i2 + 1
    if(3*hnums(i3) == hnums(n)) i3 = i3 + 1
    if(5*hnums(i5) == hnums(n)) i5 = i5 + 1
  end do
  
  if(present(last)) then
    do i = first, last
      call print_big(hnums(i))
      write(*, "(a)", advance="no") " "
    end do
  else
    call print_big(hnums(first))
  end if
  
  deallocate(hnums)
end subroutine
 
function mini(a, b, c)
  type(big_integer) :: mini
  type(big_integer), intent(in) :: a, b, c
   
  if(a < b ) then 
    if(a < c) then
      mini = a
    else
      mini = c
    end if
  else if(b < c) then
    mini = b
  else
    mini = c
  end if 
end function mini 
end program
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

FreeBASIC

' FB 1.05.0 Win64

' The biggest integer which FB supports natively is 8 bytes so unable
' to calculate 1 millionth Hamming number without using an external 
' "bigint" library such as GMP

Function min(x As Integer, y As Integer) As Integer
  Return IIf(x < y, x, y)
End Function

Function hamming(n As Integer) As Integer
  Dim h(1 To n) As Integer
  h(1) = 1
  Dim As Integer i = 1, j = 1, k = 1   
  Dim As Integer x2 = 2, x3 = 3, x5 = 5
  
  For m As Integer = 2 To n
    h(m) = min(x2, min(x3, x5))
    If h(m) = x2 Then 
      i += 1
      x2 = 2 * h(i)
    End If
    If h(m) = x3 Then
      j += 1
      x3 = 3 * h(j)
    End if
    If h(m) = x5 Then
      k += 1
      x5 = 5 * h(k)
    End If
  Next     

  Return h(n)
End Function

Print "The first 20 Hamming numbers are :"
For i As Integer = 1 To 20
  Print hamming(i); " ";
Next
Print : Print
Print "The 1691st hamming number is :"
Print hamming(1691) 
Print
Print "Press any key to quit"
Sleep
Output:
The first 20 Hamming numbers are :
 1  2  3  4  5  6  8  9  10  12  15  16  18  20  24  25  27  30  32  36

The 1691st Hamming number is :
 2125764000

FunL

Translation of: Scala
native scala.collection.mutable.Queue

val hamming =
  q2 = Queue()
  q3 = Queue()
  q5 = Queue()
  
  def enqueue( n ) =
    q2.enqueue( n*2 )
    q3.enqueue( n*3 )
    q5.enqueue( n*5 )

  def stream =
    val n = min( min(q2.head(), q3.head()), q5.head() )
    
    if q2.head() == n then q2.dequeue()
    if q3.head() == n then q3.dequeue()
    if q5.head() == n then q5.dequeue()
    
    enqueue( n )
    n # stream()
    
  for q <- [q2, q3, q5] do q.enqueue( 1 )
  
  stream()
Translation of: Haskell
val hamming = 1 # merge( map((2*), hamming), merge(map((3*), hamming), map((5*), hamming)) )

def
  merge( inx@x:_, iny@y:_ )
    | x < y     = x # merge( inx.tail(), iny )
    | x > y     = y # merge( inx, iny.tail() )
    | otherwise = merge( inx, iny.tail() )

println( hamming.take(20) )
println( hamming(1690) )
println( hamming(2000) )
Output:
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 36]
2125764000
8100000000

Fōrmulæ

Fōrmulæ programs are not textual, visualization/edition of programs is done showing/manipulating structures but not text. Moreover, there can be multiple visual representations of the same program. Even though it is possible to have textual representation —i.e. XML, JSON— they are intended for storage and transfer purposes more than visualization and edition.

Programs in Fōrmulæ are created/edited online in its website.

In this page you can see and run the program(s) related to this task and their results. You can also change either the programs or the parameters they are called with, for experimentation, but remember that these programs were created with the main purpose of showing a clear solution of the task, and they generally lack any kind of validation.

Solution

Case 1. First twenty Hamming numbers

Case 2. 1691-st Hamming number

Case 3. One million-th Hamming number

Go

Concise version using dynamic-programming

package main

import (
    "fmt"
    "math/big"
)

func min(a, b *big.Int) *big.Int {
    if a.Cmp(b) < 0 {
        return a
    }
    return b
}

func hamming(n int) []*big.Int {
    h := make([]*big.Int, n)
    h[0] = big.NewInt(1)
    two, three, five    := big.NewInt(2), big.NewInt(3), big.NewInt(5)
    next2, next3, next5 := big.NewInt(2), big.NewInt(3), big.NewInt(5)
    i, j, k := 0, 0, 0
    for m := 1; m < len(h); m++ {
        h[m] = new(big.Int).Set(min(next2, min(next3, next5)))
        if h[m].Cmp(next2) == 0 { i++; next2.Mul(  two, h[i]) } 
        if h[m].Cmp(next3) == 0 { j++; next3.Mul(three, h[j]) } 
        if h[m].Cmp(next5) == 0 { k++; next5.Mul( five, h[k]) } 
    }
    return h
}

func main() {
    h := hamming(1e6)
    fmt.Println(h[:20])
    fmt.Println(h[1691-1])
    fmt.Println(h[len(h)-1])
}
Output:
[1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36]
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Longer version using dynamic-programming and logarithms

More than 10 times faster.

package main

import (
	"flag"
	"fmt"
	"log"
	"math"
	"math/big"
	"os"
)

var (
	// print the whole sequence or just one element?

	seqMode = flag.Bool("s", false, "sequence mode")
	// precomputed base-2 logarithms for 3 and 5
	lg3, lg5 float64 = math.Log2(3), math.Log2(5)

	// state of the three multiplied sequences
	front = [3]cursor{
		{0, 0, 1},   // 2
		{1, 0, lg3}, // 3
		{2, 0, lg5}, // 5
	}

	// table for dynamic-programming stored results
	table [][3]int16
)

type cursor struct {
	f  int     // index (0, 1, 2) corresponding to factor (2, 3, 5)
	i  int     // index into table for the entry being multiplied
	lg float64 // base-2 logarithm of the multiple (for ordering)
}

func (c *cursor) val() [3]int16 {
	x := table[c.i]
	x[c.f]++ // multiply by incrementing the exponent
	return x
}

func (c *cursor) advance() {
	c.i++
	// skip entries that would produce duplicates
	for (c.f < 2 && table[c.i][2] > 0) || (c.f < 1 && table[c.i][1] > 0) {
		c.i++
	}
	x := c.val()
	c.lg = float64(x[0]) + lg3*float64(x[1]) + lg5*float64(x[2])
}

func step() {
	table = append(table, front[0].val())
	front[0].advance()
	// re-establish sorted order
	if front[0].lg > front[1].lg {
		front[0], front[1] = front[1], front[0]
		if front[1].lg > front[2].lg {
			front[1], front[2] = front[2], front[1]
		}
	}
}
func show(elem [3]int16) {
	z := big.NewInt(1)
	for i, base := range []int64{2, 3, 5} {
		b := big.NewInt(base)
		x := big.NewInt(int64(elem[i]))
		z.Mul(z, b.Exp(b, x, nil))
	}
	fmt.Println(z)
}

func main() {
	log.SetPrefix(os.Args[0] + ": ")
	log.SetOutput(os.Stderr)
	flag.Parse()
	if flag.NArg() != 1 {
		log.Fatalln("need one positive integer argument")
	}
	var ordinal int // ordinal of last sequence element to compute
	_, err := fmt.Sscan(flag.Arg(0), &ordinal)
	if err != nil || ordinal <= 0 {
		log.Fatalln("argument must be a positive integer")
	}
	table = make([][3]int16, 1, ordinal)
	for i, n := 1, ordinal; i < n; i++ {
		if *seqMode {
			show(table[i-1])
		}
		step()
	}
	show(table[ordinal-1])
}
Output:
$ ./hamming -s 20 | xargs
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36
$ time ./hamming 1000000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

real	0m0.110s
user	0m0.090s
sys	0m0.020s
$ uname -a
Linux lance 3.0-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Sat Aug 6 16:18:35 CEST 2011 x86_64 Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P8400 @ 2.26GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

Low Memory Use Enumerating Version Eliminating Duplicates

While the above code is fast due to avoiding big.Int operations and being tuned to avoid duplication of work, it has two problems: It uses memory at about six times the value of "n", the nth value and has a practical upper range where the logarithm estimate used to compare currently processed value round off error will become too big so that values will become not in proper order for some values for large ranges. This latter problem could be fixed by using double precision of two 64-bit uint's for the accumulated estimate, but the algorithm would still consume quite a lot of memory.

The following algorithm implements a continuously increasing enumeration of the Hamming numbers at about the same speed as the first solution by eliminating duplicate calculations, by organizing the streams/lazylists so that the least dense ones are processed first, and by using local variables that don't retain the heads of the streams/lazylists so that they can be garbage collected as consumed. In this way, the billionth value can be calculated using only about a billion bytes of memory (one sixth of the above), with most of that used for storage of the necessary big.Int's. If a tweaked logarithm algorithm were used, it would reduce the memory use almost to zero and would speed it up, although not to the same extent as the immediately above code as much of the remaining time would be spent in allocation of new stream/lazylist values and garbage collection.

The program implements the memoized streams/lazylists with a "roll-your-own" implementation and only the necessary methods as required by this algorithm as Go does not have a library to supply such, and uses a function closure to implement a simple form of enumeration of the Hamming values. It used "llmult to perform the function of the "map" function used in the Haskell code, which is to produce a new stream which has each value of the input stream multiplied by a constant. Instead of the Haskell "foldl" function, this program uses a simple Go "for" comprehension of the input primes array.

Translation of: Haskell
// Hamming project main.go
package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"math/big"
	"time"
)

type lazyList struct {
	head  *big.Int
	tail  *lazyList
	contf func() *lazyList
}

func (oll *lazyList) next() *lazyList {
	if oll.contf != nil { // not thread-safe
		oll.tail = oll.contf()
		oll.contf = nil
	}
	return oll.tail
}

func merge(a *lazyList, b *lazyList) *lazyList {
	rslt := new(lazyList)
	x := a.head
	y := b.head
	if x.Cmp(y) < 0 {
		rslt.head = x
		rslt.contf = func() *lazyList {
			return merge(a.next(), b)
		}
	} else {
		rslt.head = y
		rslt.contf = func() *lazyList {
			return merge(a, b.next())
		}
	}
	return rslt
}

func llmult(m *big.Int, ll *lazyList) *lazyList {
	rslt := new(lazyList)
	rslt.head = new(big.Int).Set(big.NewInt(0)).Mul(m, ll.head)
	rslt.contf = func() *lazyList {
		return llmult(m, ll.next())
	}
	return rslt
}

func u(s *lazyList, n *big.Int) *lazyList {
	rslt := new(lazyList)
	cr := new(lazyList)
	cr.head = big.NewInt(1)
	cr.contf = func() *lazyList {
		return rslt
	}
	if s == nil {
		rslt = llmult(n, cr)
	} else {
		rslt = merge(s, llmult(n, cr))
	}
	return rslt
}

func Hamming() func() *big.Int {
	prms := []int64{5, 3, 2}
	curr := new(lazyList)
	curr.head = big.NewInt(1)
	curr.contf = func() *lazyList {
		var r *lazyList = nil
		for _, v := range prms {
			r = u(r, big.NewInt(v))
		}
		return r
	}
	return func() *big.Int {
		temp := curr
		curr = curr.next()
		return temp.head
	}
}

func main() {
	n := 1000000

	hamiter := Hamming()
	rarr := make([]*big.Int, 20)
	for i, _ := range rarr {
		rarr[i] = hamiter()
	}
	fmt.Println(rarr)

	hamiter = Hamming()
	for i := 1; i < 1691; i++ {
		hamiter()
	}
	fmt.Println(hamiter())

	strt := time.Now()

	hamiter = Hamming()
	for i := 1; i < n; i++ {
		hamiter()
	}
	rslt := hamiter()

	end := time.Now()
	fmt.Printf("Found the %vth Hamming number as %v in %v.\r\n", n, rslt.String(), end.Sub(strt))
}

The outputs are about the same as the above versions. In order to perform this algorithm, one can see how much more verbose Go is than more functional languages such as Haskell or F# for this primarily functional algorithm.

Fast imperative version avoiding duplicates, reducing memory, and using logarithmic representation

While the above version can calculate to larger ranges due to somewhat reduced memory use, it is still somewhat limited as to range by memory limits due to the increasing size of the big integers used, limited in speed due to those big integer calculations, and also limited in speed due to Go's slow memory allocations and de-allocations. The following code uses combined techniques to overcome all three limitations: 1) as for other solutions on this page, it uses a representation using integer exponents of 2, 3, and 5 and a scaled integer logarithm only for value comparisons (scaled such that round-off errors aren't a factor over the applicable range); thus memory use per element is constant rather than growing with range for big integers, and operations are simple integer comparisons and additions and are thus very fast. 2) memory reductions are by draining the used arrays by batches (rather than one by one as above) in place to reduce the time required for constant allocations and de-allocations. The code is as follows:

Translation of: Rust
package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"math/big"
	"time"
)

// constants as expanded integers to minimize round-off errors, and
// reduce execution time using integer operations not float...
const cLAA2 uint64 = 35184372088832 // 2.0f64.ln() * 2.0f64.powi(45)).round() as u64;
const cLBA2 uint64 = 55765910372219 // 3.0f64.ln() / 2.0f64.ln() * 2.0f64.powi(45)).round() as u64;
const cLCA2 uint64 = 81695582054030 // 5.0f64.ln() / 2.0f64.ln() * 2.0f64.powi(45)).round() as u64;

type logelm struct { // log representation of an element with only allowable powers
	exp2 uint16
	exp3 uint16
	exp5 uint16
	logr uint64 // log representation used for comparison only - not exact
}

func (self *logelm) lte(othr *logelm) bool {
	if self.logr <= othr.logr {
		return true
	} else {
		return false
	}
}
func (self *logelm) mul2() logelm {
	return logelm{
		exp2: self.exp2 + 1,
		exp3: self.exp3,
		exp5: self.exp5,
		logr: self.logr + cLAA2,
	}
}
func (self *logelm) mul3() logelm {
	return logelm{
		exp2: self.exp2,
		exp3: self.exp3 + 1,
		exp5: self.exp5,
		logr: self.logr + cLBA2,
	}
}
func (self *logelm) mul5() logelm {
	return logelm{
		exp2: self.exp2,
		exp3: self.exp3,
		exp5: self.exp5 + 1,
		logr: self.logr + cLCA2,
	}
}

func log_nodups_hamming(n uint) *big.Int {
	if n < 1 {
		panic("log_nodups_hamming: argument < 1!")
	}
	if n < 2 { // trivial case of first in sequence
		return big.NewInt(1)
	}
	if n > 1.2e15 {
		panic("log_nodups_hamming: argument too large!")
	}

	one := logelm{}
	next5, merge := one.mul5(), one.mul3()
	next53, next532 := merge.mul3(), one.mul2()

	g := make([]logelm, 1, 65536)
	g[0] = one // never used, just so append works
	h := make([]logelm, 1, 65536)
	h[0] = one // never used, just so append works

	i, j := 1, 1
	for m := uint(1); m < n; m++ {
		cph := cap(h)
		if i >= cph/2 {
			nm := copy(h[0:i], h[i:])
			h = h[0:nm:cph]
			i = 0
		}
		if next532.lte(&merge) {
			h = append(h, next532)
			next532 = h[i].mul2()
			i++
		} else {
			h = append(h, merge)
			if next53.lte(&next5) {
				merge = next53
				next53 = g[j].mul3()
				j++
			} else {
				merge = next5
				next5 = next5.mul5()
			}
			cpg := cap(g)
			if j >= cpg/2 {
				nm := copy(g[0:j], g[j:])
				g = g[0:nm:cpg]
				j = 0
			}
			g = append(g, merge)
		}
	}

	two, three, five := big.NewInt(2), big.NewInt(3), big.NewInt(5)
	o := h[len(h)-1] // convert last element to big integer...
	ob := big.NewInt(1)
	for i := uint16(0); i < o.exp2; i++ {
		ob.Mul(two, ob)
	}
	for i := uint16(0); i < o.exp3; i++ {
		ob.Mul(three, ob)
	}
	for i := uint16(0); i < o.exp5; i++ {
		ob.Mul(five, ob)
	}
	return ob
}

func main() {
	n := uint(1e6)

	rarr := make([]*big.Int, 20)
	for i, _ := range rarr {
		rarr[i] = log_nodumps_hamming(i)
	}
	fmt.Println(rarr)

	fmt.Println(log_nodups_hamming(1691))

	strt := time.Now()

	rslt := log_nodups_hamming(n)

	end := time.Now()

	rs := rslt.String()
	lrs := len(rs)
	fmt.Printf("%v digits:\r\n", lrs)
	ndx := 0
	for ; ndx < lrs-100; ndx += 100 {
		fmt.Println(rs[ndx : ndx+100])
	}
	fmt.Println(rs[ndx:])

	fmt.Printf("This last found the %vth hamming number in %v.\r\n", n, end.Sub(strt))
}
Output:
[1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36]
2125764000
84 digits:
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
This last found the 1000000th hamming number in 10.0006ms.

The above code can produce the billionth hamming number (844 digits) in about 14 seconds and given a machine with over 9 Gigabytes, it can calculate to the limit of 1.2e13 (about 19,335 digits) in about a day or so. Functional enumerating versions as the immediately precedent code, even if adapted to the logarithm algorithm, will take longer because of the time required for enumeration, but much worse is the time required for allocations/de-allocations (garbage collection) of individual elements rather than as here in batches and for the majority of times done in place not requiring allocation/de-allocation at all.

Extremely fast version inserting logarithms into the top error band

The above code is not as fast as one can go as it is limited by the need to calculate all Hamming numbers in the sequence up to the required one: some reading on the relationship between the size of numbers to the sequence numbers is helpful (Wikipedia: regular number). One finds that there is a very distinct relationship and that it quite quickly reduces to quite a small error band proportional to the log of the output value for larger ranges. Thus, the following code just scans for logarithmic representations to insert into a sequence for this top error band and extracts the correct nth representation from that band. It reduces time complexity to O(n^(2/3)) from O(n) for the sequence versions, but even more amazingly, reduces memory requirements to O(n^(1/3)) from O(n^(2/3)) and thus makes it possible to calculate very large values in the sequence on common personal computers. The code is as follows:

Translation of: Nim
package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"math"
	"math/big"
	"sort"
	"time"
)

type logrep struct {
	lg         float64
	x2, x3, x5 uint32
}
type logreps []logrep

func (s logreps) Len() int { // necessary methods for sorting
	return len(s)
}
func (s logreps) Swap(i, j int) {
	s[i], s[j] = s[j], s[i]
}
func (s logreps) Less(i, j int) bool {
	return s[j].lg < s[i].lg // sort in decreasing order (reverse order compare)
}

func nthHamming(n uint64) (uint32, uint32, uint32) {
	if n < 2 {
		if n < 1 {
			panic("nthHamming:  argument is zero!")
		}
		return 0, 0, 0
	}
	const lb3 = 1.5849625007211561814537389439478 // math.Log2(3.0)
	const lb5 = 2.3219280948873623478703194294894 // math.Log2(5.0)
	fctr := 6.0 * lb3 * lb5
	crctn := math.Log2(math.Sqrt(30.0)) // from WP formula
	lgest := math.Pow(fctr*float64(n), 1.0/3.0) - crctn
	var frctn float64
	if n < 1000000000 {
		frctn = 0.509
	} else {
		frctn = 0.106
	}
	lghi := math.Pow(fctr*(float64(n)+frctn*lgest), 1.0/3.0) - crctn
	lglo := 2.0*lgest - lghi // and a lower limit of the upper "band"
	var count uint64 = 0
	bnd := make(logreps, 0) // give it one value so doubling size works
	klmt := uint32(lghi/lb5) + 1
	for k := uint32(0); k < klmt; k++ {
		p := float64(k) * lb5
		jlmt := uint32((lghi-p)/lb3) + 1
		for j := uint32(0); j < jlmt; j++ {
			q := p + float64(j)*lb3
			ir := lghi - q
			lg := q + math.Floor(ir) // current log value estimated
			count += uint64(ir) + 1
			if lg >= lglo {
				bnd = append(bnd, logrep{lg, uint32(ir), j, k})
			}
		}
	}
	if n > count {
		panic("nthHamming:  band high estimate is too low!")
	}
	ndx := int(count - n)
	if ndx >= bnd.Len() {
		panic("nthHamming:  band low estimate is too high!")
	}
	sort.Sort(bnd) // sort decreasing order due definition of Less above

	rslt := bnd[ndx]
	return rslt.x2, rslt.x3, rslt.x5
}

func convertTpl2BigInt(x2, x3, x5 uint32) *big.Int {
	result := big.NewInt(1)
	two := big.NewInt(2)
	three := big.NewInt(3)
	five := big.NewInt(5)
	for i := uint32(0); i < x2; i++ {
		result.Mul(result, two)
	}
	for i := uint32(0); i < x3; i++ {
		result.Mul(result, three)
	}
	for i := uint32(0); i < x5; i++ {
		result.Mul(result, five)
	}
	return result
}

func main() {
	for i := 1; i <= 20; i++ {
		fmt.Printf("%v ", convertTpl2BigInt(nthHamming(uint64(i))))
	}
	fmt.Println()
	fmt.Println(convertTpl2BigInt(nthHamming(1691)))

	strt := time.Now()
	x2, x3, x5 := nthHamming(uint64(1e6))
	end := time.Now()

	fmt.Printf("2^%v times 3^%v times 5^%v\r\n", x2, x3, x5)
	lrslt := convertTpl2BigInt(x2, x3, x5)
	lgrslt := (float64(x2) + math.Log2(3.0)*float64(x3) +
		math.Log2(5.0)*float64(x5)) * math.Log10(2.0)
	exp := math.Floor(lgrslt)
	mant := math.Pow(10.0, lgrslt-exp)
	fmt.Printf("Approximately:  %vE+%v\r\n", mant, exp)
	rs := lrslt.String()
	lrs := len(rs)
	fmt.Printf("%v digits:\r\n", lrs)
	if lrs <= 10000 {
		ndx := 0
		for ; ndx < lrs-100; ndx += 100 {
			fmt.Println(rs[ndx : ndx+100])
		}
		fmt.Println(rs[ndx:])
	}

	fmt.Printf("This last found the %vth hamming number in %v.\r\n", uint64(1e6), end.Sub(strt))
}
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 
2125764000
2^55 times 3^47 times 5^64
Approximately:  5.193127804483804E+83
84 digits:
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
This last found the 1000000th hamming number in 0s.

As can be seen above, the time to calculate the millionth Hamming number is now too small to be measured. The billionth number in the sequence can be calculated in just about 15 milliseconds, the trillionth in about 1.5 seconds, the thousand trillionth in about 150 seconds, and it should be possible to calculate the 10^19th value in less than a day (untested) on common personal computers. The (2^64 - 1)th value (18446744073709551615th value) cannot be calculated due to a slight overflow problem as it approaches that limit.

Groovy

class Hamming {

    static final ONE = BigInteger.ONE
    static final THREE = BigInteger.valueOf(3)
    static final FIVE = BigInteger.valueOf(5)

    static void main(args) {
        print 'Hamming(1 .. 20) ='
        (1..20).each {
            print " ${hamming it}"
        }
        println "\nHamming(1691) = ${hamming 1691}"
        println "Hamming(1000000) = ${hamming 1000000}"
    }

    static hamming(n) {
        def priorityQueue = new PriorityQueue<BigInteger>()
        priorityQueue.add ONE

        def lowest

        n.times {
            lowest = priorityQueue.poll()
            while (priorityQueue.peek() == lowest) {
                priorityQueue.poll()
            }
            updateQueue(priorityQueue, lowest)
        }

        lowest
    }

    static updateQueue(priorityQueue, lowest) {
        priorityQueue.add(lowest.shiftLeft 1)
        priorityQueue.add(lowest.multiply THREE)
        priorityQueue.add(lowest.multiply FIVE)
    }
}

Haskell

The classic version

hamming = 1 : map (2*) hamming `union` map (3*) hamming `union` map (5*) hamming

union a@(x:xs) b@(y:ys) = case compare x y of
            LT -> x : union  xs  b
            EQ -> x : union  xs  ys
            GT -> y : union  a   ys

main = do
    print $ take 20 hamming
    print  (hamming !! (1691-1), hamming !! (1692-1))
    print $ hamming !! (1000000-1)

-- Output:
-- [1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,12,15,16,18,20,24,25,27,30,32,36]
-- (2125764000,2147483648)
-- 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Runs in about a second on Ideone.com. The nested unions' effect is to produce the minimal value at each step, with duplicates removed. As Haskell evaluation model is on-demand, the three map expressions are in effect iterators, maintaining hidden pointers back into the shared named storage with which they were each created (a name is a pointer/handle in Haskell; to name is to point at, to refer to, to take a handle on).

The amount of operations is constant for each number produced, so the time complexity should be . Empirically, it is slightly above that and worsening, suggestive of extra cost of bignum arithmetics. Using triples representation with logarithm values for comparisons amends this problem, but runs ~ 1.2x slower for the 1,000,000.

This is what that DDJ blog post's "pseudo-C" code was transcribing, mentioned at the Python entry that started this task ( curiously, it is in almost word-for-word correspondence with Edsger Dijkstra's code from his book A Discipline of Programming, p. 132 ). D, Go, PARI/GP, Prolog all implement the same idea of back-pointers into shared storage. A Haskell run-time system can actually free up the storage automatically at the start of the shared list and only keep the needed portion of it, from the (5*) back-pointer, – which is about in length – behind the scenes, as long as there's no re-use evident in the code.

Avoiding generation of duplicates

The classic version can be sped up quite a bit (about twice, with roughly the same empirical orders of growth) by avoiding generation of duplicate values in the first place:

hammings :: () -> [Integer]
hammings() = 1 : foldr u [] [2,3,5] where
  u n s = -- fix (merge s . map (n*) . (1:))
          r where
    r = merge s (map (n*) (1:r))
    merge [] b = b
    merge a@(x:xs) b@(y:ys) | x < y     = x : merge xs b
                            | otherwise = y : merge a ys
 
main :: IO ()
main = do
  print $ take 20 (hammings ())
  print $ (hammings ()) !! 1690
  print $ (hammings ()) !! (1000000-1)

Explicit multiples reinserting

This is a common approach which explicitly maintains an internal buffer of elements, removing the numbers from its front and reinserting their 2- 3- and 5-multiples in order. It overproduces the sequence, stopping when the n-th number is no longer needed instead of when it's first found. Also overworks by maintaining this buffer in total order where just heap would be sufficient. Worse, this particular version uses a sequential list for its buffer. That means operations for each number, instead of of the above version (and thus overall). Translation of Java (which does use priority queue though, so should have O‍ ‍(n‍ ‍logn) operations overall). Uses union from the "classic" version above:

hammFrom n = drop n $ 
   iterate (\(_ , (a:t)) -> (a, union t [2*a,3*a,5*a])) (0, [1])
Output:
> take 20 $ map fst $ hammFrom 1
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,12,15,16,18,20,24,25,27,30,32,36]

> take 2 $ map fst $ hammFrom 1691
[2125764000,2147483648]

> mapM_ print $ take 10 $ hammFrom 1
(1,[2,3,5])
(2,[3,4,5,6,10])
(3,[4,5,6,9,10,15])
(4,[5,6,8,9,10,12,15,20])
(5,[6,8,9,10,12,15,20,25])
(6,[8,9,10,12,15,18,20,25,30])
(8,[9,10,12,15,16,18,20,24,25,30,40])
(9,[10,12,15,16,18,20,24,25,27,30,40,45])
(10,[12,15,16,18,20,24,25,27,30,40,45,50])
(12,[15,16,18,20,24,25,27,30,36,40,45,50,60])

> map (length . snd . head . hammFrom) [2000,4000,8000,16000]
[402,638,1007,1596]

> map (logBase 2) $ zipWith (/) =<< tail $ [402,638,1007,1596]
[0.67,0.66,0.66]

Runs too slowly to reach 1,000,000, with empirical orders of growth above ~‍ ‍(n‍ ‍1.7‍ ‍) and worsening. Last two lines show the internal buffer's length for several sample n‍ ‍s, and its empirical orders of growth which strongly support the claim.

Enumeration by a chain of folded merges

hamm = foldr merge1 [] . iterate (map (5*)) . 
         foldr merge1 [] . iterate (map (3*))
                                $ iterate (2*) 1 
    where
    merge1 (x:xs) ys = x : merge xs ys

{- 1,  2,  4,  8,  16,  32, ...
   3,  6, 12, 24,  48,  96, ...
   9, 18, 36, 72, 144, 288, ...
   27, ... -}

Uses merge, as there's no need for duplicates-removing union because each number is produced only once here, too.

The merges are arranged in a chain of folds. Might be suitable for parallel execution, because of their large number.

Twice slower than the classic version at producing 1,000,000th Hamming number, and worsening, running at ~n1.14..1.16 empirically (vs. the classic version's linear operations). This is surprisingly efficient considering the large number of merges going on (about 300 for the 1Mth number, and ~3n1/3 in general).

Can be significantly improved, both in time complexity and absolute run time, by replacing the linear fold with the tree-shaped mergeAll from the Data.List.Ordered module of data-ordlist package.

Direct calculation through triples enumeration

It is also possible to more or less directly calculate the n-th Hamming number by enumerating (and counting) all the (i,j,k) triples below its estimated value – with ordering according to their exponents, i*ln2 + j*ln3 + k*ln5 – while storing only the "band" of topmost triples close enough to the target value (more in the original post on DDJ). The savings come from enumerating only pairs of indices, and finding the corresponding third index by a direct calculation, thus achieving the O(n^(2/3)) time complexity. Space complexity, with constant empirical estimation correction, is ~n^(2/3); but is further tweaked to ~n^(1/3) (following the idea from the entry below).

The total count of thus produced triples is then the band's topmost value's index in the Hamming sequence, 1-based. The nth number in the sequence is then found by a simple lookup in the sorted band, provided it was wide enough. This produces the 1,000,000-th value instantaneously. Following the 2017-10 IDEOne update to a faster 64-bit system, the 1 trillionth number is found in 0.7s on Ideone.com:

-- directly find n-th Hamming number, in ~ O(n^{2/3}) time.
-- based on "top band" idea by Louis Klauder, from the DDJ discussion.
-- by Will Ness, original post: drdobbs.com/blogs/architecture-and-design/228700538
 
import Data.List (sortBy, foldl') -- '
import Data.Function (on)
 
main = let (r,t) = nthHam 1000000 in print t >> print (trival t)
 
trival (i,j,k) = 2^i * 3^j * 5^k
 
nthHam :: Int -> (Double, (Int, Int, Int))                -- ( 64bit: use Int!!!     NB! )
nthHam n                                                  -- n: 1-based: 1,2,3...
  | n <= 0    = error $ "n is 1--based: must be n > 0: " ++ show n
  | n < 2     = ( 0.0, (0, 0, 0) ) -- trivial case so estimation works for rest
  | w >= 1    = error $ "Breach of contract: (w < 1):  " ++ show w
  | m <  0    = error $ "Not enough triples generated: " ++ show ((c,n) :: (Int, Int))
  | m >= nb   = error $ "Generated band is too narrow: " ++ show (m,nb)
  | otherwise = sortBy (flip compare `on` fst) b !! m     -- m-th from top in sorted band
 where  
  lb3 = logBase 2 3;  lb5 = logBase 2 5;  lb30_2 = logBase 2 30 / 2
  v = (6*lb3*lb5* fromIntegral n)**(1/3) - lb30_2         -- estimated logval, base 2
  estval n = (v + (1/v), 2/v)                             -- the space tweak! (thx, GBG!)
  (hi,w) = estval n                                       --   hi > logval > hi-w
  m      = fromIntegral (c - n)                           -- target index, from top
  nb     = length (b :: [(Double, (Int, Int, Int))])      -- length of the band
  (c,b) = foldl_ (\(c,b) (i,t)-> let c2=c+i in c2 `seq`   -- ( total count, the band )
                     case t of []-> (c2,b);[v]->(c2,v:b) ) (0,[])  -- ( =~= mconcat )
            [ ( fromIntegral i+1,                         -- total triples w/ this (j,k)
                [ (r,(i,j,k)) | frac < w ] )              -- store it, if inside band
              | k <- [ 0 .. floor ( hi   /lb5) ],  let p = fromIntegral k*lb5,    
                j <- [ 0 .. floor ((hi-p)/lb3) ],  let q = fromIntegral j*lb3 + p,
                let (i,frac) = pr  (hi-q) ;            r = hi - frac  -- r = i + q 
            ] where  pr      = properFraction             -- pr 1.24 => (1,0.24)
                     foldl_  = foldl'
Output:
-- time: 0.00s    memory: 4.2MB
(55,47,64)
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Using loops for a faster code, and a narrower band to save space

The DDJ blog post by Will Ness doesn't use the fact mentioned by the Wikipedia article that the error term in the estimation of the log of the resulting value for the nth Hamming number is directly proportional to this same log result. Using this fact, we are able to reduce the span of the "band" to only a constant fraction of the estimated log result for large n, and thus reduce memory space requirements to O(n^(1/3)) from O(n^(2/3)) for a considerable space saving for larger ranges.

As well, although it isn't quite as elegant in a Haskell style sense, one can get an additional constant factor in execution time by replacing the "loops" based on list comprehensions to tail-recursive function call "loops", as in the following code:

{-# OPTIONS_GHC -O3 -XStrict #-}

import Data.Word
import Data.List (sortBy)
import Data.Function (on)

nthHam :: Word64 -> (Int, Int, Int)
nthHam n                                               -- n: 1-based 1,2,3...
  | n < 2     = case n of
                  0 -> error "nthHam:  Argument is zero!"
                  _ -> (0, 0, 0)                       -- trivial case for 1
  | m <  0    = error $ "Not enough triples generated: " ++ show (c,n)
  | m >= nb   = error $ "Generated band is too narrow: " ++ show (m,nb)
  | otherwise = case res of (_, tv) -> tv -- 2^i * 3^j * 5^k
 where
  lb3     = logBase 2 3; lb5 = logBase 2 5.0
  lbrt30  = logBase 2 $ sqrt 30 :: Double -- estimate adjustment as per WP
  lg2est  = (6 * lb3 * lb5 * fromIntegral n)**(1/3) - lbrt30 -- estimated logval, base 2
  (hi,lo) = (lg2est + 1/lg2est, 2 * lg2est - hi) -- hi > log2est > lo
  (c, b)  = let klmt = floor (hi / lb5)
                loopk k ck bndk =
                  if k > klmt then (ck, bndk) else
                  let p = hi - fromIntegral k * lb5; jlmt = floor (p / lb3)
                      loopj j cj bndj =
                        if j > jlmt then loopk (k + 1) cj bndj else
                        let q = p - fromIntegral j * lb3
                            (i, frac) = properFraction q
                            nj = j + 1; ncj = cj + fromIntegral i + 1
                            r = hi - frac
                            nbndj = i `seq` bndj `seq`
                                    if r < lo then bndj
                                    else case (r, (i, j, k)) of
                                           nhd -> nhd `seq` nhd : bndj
                        in ncj `seq` nbndj `seq` loopj nj ncj nbndj
                  in loopj 0 ck bndk
            in loopk 0 0 []
  (m,nb)  = ( fromIntegral $ c - n, length b )         -- m 0-based from top, |band|
  (s,res) = ( sortBy (flip compare `on` fst) b, s!!m ) -- sorted decreasing, result<

main = putStrLn $ show $ nthHam 1000000000000

This implementation can likely calculate the 10^19th Hamming number in less than a day and can't quite reach the (2^64-1)th (18446744073709551615th) Hamming due to a slight range overflow as it approaches this limit. Maximum memory used to these limits is less than a few hundred Megabytes, so possible on typical personal computers given the required day or two of computing time.

On IdeOne (64-bit), this takes 0.03 seconds for the 10 billionth and 0.70 seconds for the trillionth number (October 2017 update to a faster 64-bit system).

Using "roll-your-own" extended precision logarithm values in the error band to extend range

All of these codes using algorithms can't do an accurate sort of the error band for arguments somewhere above 10^13 due to the limited precision of the Double logarithm values, but this is easily fixed by using "roll-your-own" Integer logarithm values as follows with very little cost in execution time as it only applies to the relatively very small error band:

{-# OPTIONS_GHC -O3 -XStrict #-}

import Data.Word
import Data.List (sortBy)
import Data.Function (on)

nthHam :: Word64 -> (Int, Int, Int)
nthHam n                                               -- n: 1-based 1,2,3...
  | n < 2     = case n of
                  0 -> error "nthHam:  Argument is zero!"
                  _ -> (0, 0, 0)                       -- trivial case for 1
  | m <  0    = error $ "Not enough triples generated: " ++ show (c,n)
  | m >= nb   = error $ "Generated band is too narrow: " ++ show (m,nb)
  | otherwise = case res of (_, tv) -> tv -- 2^i * 3^j * 5^k
 where
  lb3     = logBase 2 3; lb5 = logBase 2 5.0
  lbrt30  = logBase 2 $ sqrt 30 :: Double -- estimate adjustment as per WP
  lg2est  = (6 * lb3 * lb5 * fromIntegral n)**(1/3) - lbrt30 -- estimated logval, base 2
  (hi,lo) = (lg2est + 1/lg2est, 2 * lg2est - hi) -- hi > log2est > lo
  bglb2 = 1267650600228229401496703205376 :: Integer
  bglb3 = 2009178665378409109047848542368 :: Integer
  bglb5 = 2943393543170754072109742145491 :: Integer
  (c, b)  = let klmt = floor (hi / lb5)
                loopk k ck bndk =
                  if k > klmt then (ck, bndk) else
                  let p = hi - fromIntegral k * lb5; jlmt = floor (p / lb3)
                      loopj j cj bndj =
                        if j > jlmt then loopk (k + 1) cj bndj else
                        let q = p - fromIntegral j * lb3
                            (i, frac) = properFraction q
                            nj = j + 1; ncj = cj + fromIntegral i + 1
                            r = hi - frac
                            nbndj = i `seq` bndj `seq`
                                    if r < lo then bndj
                                    else 
                                      let bglg = bglb2 * fromIntegral i +
                                                   bglb3 * fromIntegral j +
                                                   bglb5 * fromIntegral k in
                                      bglg `seq` case (bglg, (i, j, k)) of
                                                   nhd -> nhd `seq` nhd : bndj
                        in ncj `seq` nbndj `seq` loopj nj ncj nbndj
                  in loopj 0 ck bndk
            in loopk 0 0 []
  (m,nb)  = ( fromIntegral $ c - n, length b )         -- m 0-based from top, |band|
--  (s,res) = (b, s!!m)
  (s,res) = ( sortBy (flip compare `on` fst) b, s!!m ) -- sorted decreasing, result<

main = putStrLn $ show $ nthHam 1000000000000

All of these codes run a constant factor faster using the forced "Strict" mode, which shows that it is very difficult to anticipate the Haskell strictness analyser, especially in the case of the first code using List comprehensions.

Icon and Unicon

This solution uses Unicon's object oriented extensions. An Icon only version has not been provided.

Lazy evaluation is used to improve performance.

# Lazily generate the three Hamming numbers that can be derived directly
#   from a known Hamming number h
class Triplet : Class (cv, ce)

    method nextVal()
        suspend cv := @ce
    end

    initially (baseNum)
        cv := 2*baseNum
        ce := create (3|5)*baseNum
end

# Generate Hamming numbers, in order.  Default is first 30
#  But an optional argument can be used to generate more (or less)
#   e.g. hamming 5000 generates the first 5000.
procedure main(args)
    limit := integer(args[1]) | 30
    every write("\t", generateHamming() \ limit)
end
    
# Do the work.   Start with known Hamming number 1 and maintain
#   a set of triplet Hamming numbers as they get derived from that
#   one.  Most of the code here is to figure out which Hamming
#   number is next in sequence (while removing duplicates)
procedure generateHamming()
    triplers := set()
    insert(triplers, Triplet(1))

    suspend 1
    repeat {
        # Pick a Hamming triplet that *may* have the next smallest number
        t1 := !triplers         # any will do to start

        every t1 ~=== (t2 := !triplers) do {
            if t1.cv > t2.cv then {
               # oops we were wrong, switch assumption
               t1 := t2
               }
            else if t1.cv = t2.cv then {
               # t2's value is a duplicate, so
               # advance triplet t2, if none left in t2, remove it
               t2.nextVal() | delete(triplers, t2)
               }
           }

        # Ok, t1 has the next Hamming number, grab it
        suspend t1.cv
        insert(triplers, Triplet(t1.cv)) 
        # Advance triplet t1, if none left in t1, remove it
        t1.nextVal() | delete(triplers, t1)
        }
end

J

Solution:
A concise tacit expression using a (right) fold:

hamming=: {. (/:~@~.@] , 2 3 5 * {)/@(1x ,~ i.@-)

Example usage:

   hamming 20
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36

   {: hamming 1691
2125764000

For the millionth (and billionth (1e9)) Hamming number see the nh verb from Hamming Number essay on the J wiki.

Explanation:
I'll explain this J-sentence by dividing it in three parts from left to right omitting the leftmost {.:

  • sort and remove duplicates
 /:~@~.@]
  • produce 3 elements by selection and multiplication (we have already produced smaller values, this will overproduce slightly larger values, but the extra values overlap, and we handle that by discarding duplicates):
 2 3 5 * {

note that LHA (2 3 5 * {) RHA is equivalent to

 2 3 5 * LHA { RHA
  • the RH part forms an array of descending indices and the initial Hamming number 1
 (1x ,~ i.@-)

e.g. if we want the first 5 Hamming numbers, it produces the array:

4 3 2 1 0 1

in other words, we compute a sequence which begins with the desired hamming sequence and then take the first n elements (which will be our desired hamming sequence)

   ({. (/:~@~.@] , 2 3 5 * {)/@(1x ,~ i.@-)) 7
1 2 3 4 5 6 8

This starts using a descending sequence with 1 appended:

    (1x ,~ i.@-) 7
6 5 4 3 2 1 0 1

and then the fold expression is inserted between these list elements and the result computed:

   6(/:~@~.@] , 2 3 5 * {) 5(/:~@~.@] , 2 3 5 * {) 4(/:~@~.@] , 2 3 5 * {) 3(/:~@~.@] , 2 3 5 * {) 2(/:~@~.@] , 2 3 5 * {) 1(/:~@~.@] , 2 3 5 * {) 0(/:~@~.@] , 2 3 5 * {) 1
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 18 20 25 30 16 24 40

(Note: A train of verbs in J is evaluated by supplying arguments to the every other verb (counting from the right) and the combining these results with the remaining verbs. Also: { has been implemented so that an index of 0 will select the only item from an array with no dimensions.)

Java

Works with: Java version 1.5+

Has a common shortcoming of overproducing the sequence by about entries, until the n-th number is no longer needed, instead of stopping as soon as it is reached. See Haskell for an illustration.

Inserting the top number's three multiples deep into the priority queue as it does, incurs extra cost for each number produced. To not worsen the expected algorithm complexity, the priority queue should have (amortized) implementation for both insertion and deletion operations but it looks like it's in Java.

import java.math.BigInteger;
import java.util.PriorityQueue;

final class Hamming {
    private static BigInteger THREE = BigInteger.valueOf(3);
    private static BigInteger FIVE = BigInteger.valueOf(5);

    private static void updateFrontier(BigInteger x,
                                       PriorityQueue<BigInteger> pq) {
        pq.offer(x.shiftLeft(1));
        pq.offer(x.multiply(THREE));
        pq.offer(x.multiply(FIVE));
    }

    public static BigInteger hamming(int n) {
        if (n <= 0)
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid parameter");
        PriorityQueue<BigInteger> frontier = new PriorityQueue<BigInteger>();
        updateFrontier(BigInteger.ONE, frontier);
        BigInteger lowest = BigInteger.ONE;
        for (int i = 1; i < n; i++) {
            lowest = frontier.poll();
            while (frontier.peek().equals(lowest))
                frontier.poll();
            updateFrontier(lowest, frontier);
        }
        return lowest;
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.print("Hamming(1 .. 20) =");
        for (int i = 1; i < 21; i++)
             System.out.print(" " + hamming(i));
        System.out.println("\nHamming(1691) = " + hamming(1691));
        System.out.println("Hamming(1000000) = " + hamming(1000000));
    }
}
Output:
Hamming(1 .. 20) = 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36
Hamming(1691) = 2125764000
Hamming(1000000) = 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Another possibility is to realize that Hamming numbers can be represented and stored as triples of nonnegative integers which are the powers of 2, 3 and 5, and do all operations needed by the algorithms directly on these triples without converting to , which saves tremendous memory and time. Also, the search frontier through this three-dimensional grid can be generated in an order that never reaches the same state twice, so we don't need to keep track which states have already been encountered, saving even more memory. The objects of encode Hamming numbers in three fields , and . Multiplying by 2, 3 and 5 can now be done just by incrementing that field. The order comparison of triples needed by the priority queue is implemented with simple logarithm formulas of multiplication and addition, resorting to conversion to only in the rare cases that the floating point arithmetic produces too close results.

import java.math.BigInteger;
import java.util.*;


public class HammingTriple implements Comparable<HammingTriple> {

    // Precompute a couple of constants that we need all the time
    private static final BigInteger two = BigInteger.valueOf(2);
    private static final BigInteger three = BigInteger.valueOf(3);
    private static final BigInteger five = BigInteger.valueOf(5);
    private static final double logOf2 = Math.log(2);
    private static final double logOf3 = Math.log(3);
    private static final double logOf5 = Math.log(5);
        
    // The powers of this triple
    private int a, b, c;
      
    public HammingTriple(int a, int b, int c) {
        this.a = a; this.b = b; this.c = c;
    }
    
    public String toString() {
        return "[" + a + ", " + b + ", " + c + "]";
    }
    
    public BigInteger getValue() {
        return two.pow(a).multiply(three.pow(b)).multiply(five.pow(c));
    }
    
    public boolean equals(Object other) {
        if(other instanceof HammingTriple) {
            HammingTriple h = (HammingTriple) other;
            return this.a == h.a && this.b == h.b && this.c == h.c;
        }
        else { return false; }
    }
    
    // Return 0 if this == other, +1 if this > other, and -1 if this < other
    public int compareTo(HammingTriple other) {
        // equality
        if(this.a == other.a && this.b == other.b && this.c == other.c) {
            return 0;
        }
        // this dominates
        if(this.a >= other.a && this.b >= other.b && this.c >= other.c) {
            return +1;
        }
        // other dominates
        if(this.a <= other.a && this.b <= other.b && this.c <= other.c) {
            return -1;
        }
       
        // take the logarithms for comparison
        double log1 = this.a * logOf2 + this.b * logOf3 + this.c * logOf5;
        double log2 = other.a * logOf2 + other.b * logOf3 + other.c * logOf5;
        
        // are these different enough to be reliable?
        if(Math.abs(log1 - log2) > 0.0000001) {
            return (log1 < log2) ? -1: +1;
        }
        
        // oh well, looks like we have to do this the hard way
        return this.getValue().compareTo(other.getValue());
        // (getting this far should be pretty rare, though)
    }
    
    public static BigInteger computeHamming(int n, boolean verbose) {
        if(verbose) {
            System.out.println("Hamming number #" + n);
        }
        long startTime = System.currentTimeMillis();
        
        // The elements of the search frontier
        PriorityQueue<HammingTriple> frontierQ = new PriorityQueue<HammingTriple>();
        int maxFrontierSize = 1;
        
        // Initialize the frontier
        frontierQ.offer(new HammingTriple(0, 0, 0)); // 1
        
        while(true) {
            if(frontierQ.size() > maxFrontierSize) {
                maxFrontierSize = frontierQ.size();
            }
            // Pop out the next Hamming number from the frontier
            HammingTriple curr = frontierQ.poll();
            
            if(--n == 0) {
                if(verbose) {
                    System.out.println("Time: " + (System.currentTimeMillis() - startTime) + " ms");
                    System.out.println("Frontier max size: " + maxFrontierSize);
                    System.out.println("As powers: " + curr.toString());
                    System.out.println("As value: " + curr.getValue());
                }
                return curr.getValue();
            }
            
            // Current times five, if at origin in (a,b) plane
            if(curr.a == 0 && curr.b == 0) {
                frontierQ.offer(new HammingTriple(curr.a, curr.b, curr.c + 1));
            }
            // Current times three, if at line a == 0
            if(curr.a == 0) {
                frontierQ.offer(new HammingTriple(curr.a, curr.b + 1, curr.c));
            }
            // Current times two, unconditionally
            curr.a++;
            frontierQ.offer(curr); // reuse the current HammingTriple object
        }
    }
}
Hamming number #1000000
Time: 650 ms
Frontier max size: 10777
As powers: [55, 47, 64]
As value: 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Hamming number #1000000000
Time: 1763306 ms
Frontier max size: 1070167
As powers: [1334, 335, 404]
As value: 62160757555652448616308163328720720039470565190896527065916324096423370220027531418244175407
772567327803701726166152919355404186200255249167295000868314547113136940786355040041603128729517887
0364794838245609107270160079056207179759030665476588225699039176388785014115448224991592743918456282
8227449023750262318234797192076792208033475638322151983772515798004125909334741121595323950448656375
1044570269974247729669174417794061727369755885568000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Alternative

This uses memoized streams - similar in principle to the classic lazy-evaluated sequence, but with a java flavor. Hope you like this recipe!

import java.math.BigInteger;

public class Hamming
{
    public static void main(String args[])
    {
        Stream hamming = makeHamming();
        System.out.print("H[1..20] ");
        for (int i=0; i<20; i++) {
            System.out.print(hamming.value());
            System.out.print(" ");
            hamming = hamming.advance();
        }
        System.out.println();

        System.out.print("H[1691] ");
        hamming = makeHamming();
        for (int i=1; i<1691; i++) {
            hamming = hamming.advance();
        }
        System.out.println(hamming.value());

        hamming = makeHamming();
        System.out.print("H[10^6] ");
        for (int i=1; i<1000000; i++) {
            hamming = hamming.advance();
        }
        System.out.println(hamming.value());
    }

    public interface Stream
    {
        BigInteger value();
        Stream advance();
    }

    public static class MultStream implements Stream
    {
        MultStream(int mult)
        { m_mult = BigInteger.valueOf(mult); }
        MultStream setBase(Stream s)
        { m_base = s; return this; }
        public BigInteger value()
        { return m_mult.multiply(m_base.value()); }
        public Stream advance()
        { return setBase(m_base.advance()); }

        private final BigInteger m_mult;
        private Stream m_base;
    }

    private final static class RegularStream implements Stream
    {
        RegularStream(Stream[] streams, BigInteger val)
        {
            m_streams = streams;
            m_val = val;
        }
        public BigInteger value()
        { return m_val; }

        public Stream advance()
        {
            // memoized value for the next stream instance.
            if (m_advance != null) { return m_advance; }

            int minidx = 0 ;
            BigInteger next = nextStreamValue(0);
            for (int i=1; i<m_streams.length; i++) {
                BigInteger v = nextStreamValue(i);
                if (v.compareTo(next) < 0) {
                    next = v;
                    minidx = i;
                }
            }
            RegularStream ret = new RegularStream(m_streams, next);
            // memoize the value!
            m_advance = ret;
            m_streams[minidx].advance();
            return ret;
        }
        private BigInteger nextStreamValue(int streamidx)
        {
            // skip past duplicates in the streams we're merging.
            BigInteger ret = m_streams[streamidx].value();
            while (ret.equals(m_val)) {
                m_streams[streamidx] = m_streams[streamidx].advance();
                ret = m_streams[streamidx].value();
            }
            return ret;
        }
        private final Stream[] m_streams;
        private final BigInteger m_val;
        private RegularStream m_advance = null;
    }

    private final static Stream makeHamming()
    {
        MultStream nums[] = new MultStream[] {
            new MultStream(2),
            new MultStream(3),
            new MultStream(5)
        };
        Stream ret = new RegularStream(nums, BigInteger.ONE);
        for (int i=0; i<nums.length; i++) {
            nums[i].setBase(ret);
        }
        return ret;
    }
}
$ java Hamming 
H[1..20] 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 
H[1691] 2125764000
H[10^6] 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
$ 

JavaScript

Works with: JavaScript version 1.7
Works with: Firefox version 2
Translation of: Ruby

This does not calculate the 1,000,000th Hamming number.

Note the use of for (x in obj) to iterate over the properties of an object, versus for each (y in obj) to iterate over the values of the properties of an object.

function hamming() {
    var queues = {2: [], 3: [], 5: []};
    var base;
    var next_ham = 1;
    while (true) {
        yield next_ham;

        for (base in queues) {queues[base].push(next_ham * base)}

        next_ham = [ queue[0] for each (queue in queues) ].reduce(function(min, val) {
            return Math.min(min,val)
        });

        for (base in queues) {if (queues[base][0] == next_ham) queues[base].shift()}
    }
}

var ham = hamming();
var first20=[], i=1;

for (; i <= 20; i++) 
    first20.push(ham.next());
print(first20.join(', '));
print('...');
for (; i <= 1690; i++) 
    ham.next();
print(i + " => " + ham.next());
Output:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 36
...
1691 => 2125764000 

Fast & complete version

Translation of: C#

A translation of my fast C# version. I was curious to see how much slower JavaScript is. The result: it runs about 5x times slower than C#, though YMMV. You can try it yourself here: http://jsfiddle.net/N7AFN/

--Mike Lorenz

<html>
<head></head>
<body>
    <div id="main"></div>
</body>
<script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-latest.min.js"></script>
<script src="http://peterolson.github.com/BigInteger.js/BigInteger.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
    var _primes = [2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29, 31, 37];

    function log(text) {
        $('#main').append(text + "\n");
    }

    function big(exponents) {
        var i, e, val = bigInt.one;
        for (i = 0; i < exponents.length; i++)
            for (e = 0; e < exponents[i]; e++)
                val = val.times(_primes[i]);
        return val.toString();
    }

    function hamming(n, nprimes) {
        var i, iter, p, q, min, equal, x;

        var hammings = new Array(n);                            // array of hamming #s we generate
        hammings[0] = new Array(nprimes);
        for (p = 0; p < nprimes; p++) {
            hammings[0][p] = 0;
        }

        var hammlogs = new Array(n);                            // log values for above
        hammlogs[0] = 0;

        var primelogs = new Array(nprimes);                     // pre-calculated prime log values
        var listlogs  = new Array(nprimes);                     // log values of list heads
        for (p = 0; p < nprimes; p++) {
            primelogs[p] = listlogs[p] = Math.log(_primes[p]);
        }

        var indexes = new Array(nprimes);                       // intermediate hamming values as indexes into hammings
        for (p = 0; p < nprimes; p++) {
            indexes[p] = 0;
        }

        var listheads = new Array(nprimes);                     // intermediate hamming list heads
        for (p = 0; p < nprimes; p++) {
            listheads[p] = new Array(nprimes);
            for (q = 0; q < nprimes; q++) {
                listheads[p][q] = 0;
            }
            listheads[p][p] = 1;
        }

        for (iter = 1; iter < n; iter++) {
            min = 0;
            for (p = 1; p < nprimes; p++)
                if (listlogs[p] < listlogs[min])
                    min = p;
            hammlogs[iter] = listlogs[min];                     // that's the next hamming number
            hammings[iter] = listheads[min].slice();
            for (p = 0; p < nprimes; p++) {                     // update each list head if it matches new value
                equal = true;                                   // test each exponent to see if number matches
                for (i = 0; i < nprimes; i++) {
                    if (hammings[iter][i] != listheads[p][i]) {
                        equal = false;
                        break;
                    }
                }
                if (equal) {                                    // if it matches...
                    x = ++indexes[p];                           // set index to next hamming number
                    listheads[p] = hammings[x].slice();         // copy hamming number
                    listheads[p][p] += 1;                       // increment exponent = mult by prime
                    listlogs[p] = hammlogs[x] + primelogs[p];   // add log(prime) to log(value) = mult by prime
                }
            }
        }

        return hammings[n - 1];
    }

    $(document).ready(function() {
        var i, nprimes;
        var t = [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,1691,1000000];

        for (nprimes = 3; nprimes <= 4; nprimes++) {
            var start = new Date();
            log('<h1>' + _primes[nprimes - 1] + '-Smooth:' + '</h1>');
            log('<table>');
            for (i = 0; i < t.length; i++)
                log('<tr>' + '<td>' + t[i] + ':' + '</td><td>' + big(hamming(t[i], nprimes)) + '</td>');
            var end = new Date();
            log('<tr>' + '<td>' + 'Elapsed time:' + '</td><td>' + (end-start)/1000 + ' seconds' +  '</td>');
            log('</table>');
        }
    });
</script>
</html>
Output:
5-Smooth:

1:		1
2:		2
3:		3
4:		4
5:		5
6:		6
7:		8
8:		9
9:		10
10:		12
11:		15
12:		16
13:		18
14:		20
15:		24
16:		25
17:		27
18:		30
19:		32
20:		36
1691:		2125764000
1000000:	519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Elapsed time:	1.73 seconds

7-Smooth:

1:		1
2:		2
3:		3
4:		4
5:		5
6:		6
7:		7
8:		8
9:		9
10:		10
11:		12
12:		14
13:		15
14:		16
15:		18
16:		20
17:		21
18:		24
19:		25
20:		27
1691:		3317760
1000000:	4157409948433216829957008507500000000
Elapsed time:	1.989 seconds

jq

Works with: jq version 1.4

We take the primary challenge here to be to write a Hamming number generator that can generate a given number of Hamming numbers, or the n-th Hamming number, without storing previously generated numbers.

To motivate a more complex version, in Part 1 of this section hamming(n) is defined as a generator of Hamming numbers, as numbers. This function uses an efficient algorithm and can run indefinitely, but it has one disadvantage: currently, jq converts large integers to floating point approximations, and thus precision is lost. For example, it reports the millionth Hamming number as 1.926511252902403e+44.

In Part 2, the algorithm in the first part is modified to use the [p,q,r] representation of Hamming numbers, where p, q, and r are the relevant exponents respectively of 2, 3, and 5.

The task description focuses on finding the n-th element of an infinite sequence and so it should be mentioned that using jq versions greater than 1.4, it would be possible to simply the generator so that is always unbounded, and then harness it with new builtins such as "limit" and "nth".

Hamming number generator

# Return the index in the input array of the min_by(f) value
def index_min_by(f):
  . as $in
  | if length == 0 then null
    else .[0] as $first
    | reduce range(0; length) as $i 
        ([0, $first, ($first|f)];   # state: [ix; min; f|min]
         ($in[$i]|f) as $v
         | if $v < .[2] then [ $i, $in[$i], $v ] else . end) 
    | .[0]
    end;

# Emit n Hamming numbers if n>0; the nth if n<0
def hamming(n):

  # input: [twos, threes, fives] of which at least one is assumed to be non-empty
  # output: the index of the array holding the min of the firsts
  def next: map( .[0] ) | index_min_by(.);

  # input: [value, [twos, threes, fives] ....]
  # ix is the index in [twos, threes, fives] of the array to be popped
  # output: [popped, updated_arrays ...]
  def pop(ix):
    .[1] as $triple
    | setpath([0];    $triple[ix][0])
    | setpath([1,ix]; $triple[ix][1:]);

  # input: [x, [twos, threes, fives], count]
  # push value*2 to twos, value*3 to threes, value*5 to fives and increment count
  def push(v):
    [.[0], [.[1][0] + [2*v], .[1][1] + [3*v], .[1][2] + [5*v]], .[2] + 1];

  # _hamming is the workhorse
  # input: [previous, [twos, threes, fives], count]
  def _hamming:
    .[0] as $previous
    | if (n > 0 and .[2] == n) or (n<0 and .[2] == -n) then $previous
      else (.[1]|next) as $ix     # $ix cannot be null
      | pop($ix)
      | .[0] as $next
      | (if $next == $previous then empty elif n>=0 then $previous else empty end), 
        (if $next == $previous then . else push($next) end | _hamming) 
      end;
  [1, [[2],[3],[5]], 1] | _hamming;

. as $n | hamming($n)

Examples:

# First twenty:
hamming(20)
# See elsewhere for output

# 1691st Hamming number:
hamming(-1691)
# => 2125764000

# Millionth:
hamming(-1000000)
# => 1.926511252902403e+44

Hamming numbers as triples

In this section, Hamming numbers are represented as triples, [p,q,r], where p, q and r are the relevant powers of 2, 3, and 5 respectively. We therefore begin with some functions for managing Hamming numbers represented in this manner:

# The log (base e) of a Hamming triple:
def ln_hamming:
  if length != 3 then error("ln_hamming: \(.)") else . end
  | (.[0] * (2|log)) + (.[1] * (3|log)) + (.[2] * (5|log));

# The numeric value of a Hamming triple:
def hamming_tof: ln_hamming | exp;

def hamming_toi:
  def pow(n): . as $in | reduce range(0;n) as $i (1; . * $in);
  . as $in | (2|pow($in[0])) * (3|pow($in[1])) * (5|pow($in[2]));

# Return the index in the input array of the min_by(f) value
def index_min_by(f):
  . as $in
  | if length == 0 then null
    else .[0] as $first
    | reduce range(0; length) as $i 
        ([0, $first, ($first|f)];   # state: [ix; min; f|min]
         ($in[$i]|f) as $v
         | if $v < .[2] then [ $i, $in[$i], $v ] else . end) 
    | .[0]
    end;

# Emit n Hamming numbers (as triples) if n>0; the nth if n<0; otherwise indefinitely.
def hamming(n):

  # n must be 2, 3 or 5
  def hamming_times(n): n as $n
    | if $n==2 then .[0] += 1 elif $n==3 then .[1] += 1 else .[2] += 1 end;

  # input: [twos, threes, fives] of which at least one is assumed to be non-empty
  # output: the index of the array holding the min of the firsts
  def next: map( .[0] ) | index_min_by( ln_hamming );

  # input: [value, [twos, threes, fives] ....]
  # ix is the index in [twos, threes, fives] of the array to be popped
  # output: [popped, updated_arrays ...]
  def pop(ix):
    .[1] as $triple
    | setpath([0];    $triple[ix][0])
    | setpath([1,ix]; $triple[ix][1:]);

  # input: [x, [twos, threes, fives], count]
  # push value*2 to twos, value*3 to threes, value*5 to fives and increment count
  def push(v):
    [.[0], [.[1][0] + [v|hamming_times(2)], .[1][1] + [v|hamming_times(3)],
            .[1][2] + [v|hamming_times(5)]], .[2] + 1];

  # _hamming is the workhorse
  # input: [previous, [twos, threes, fives], count]
  def _hamming:
    .[0] as $previous
    | if (n > 0 and .[2] == n) or (n<0 and .[2] == -n) then $previous
      else (.[1]|next) as $ix     # $ix cannot be null
      | pop($ix)
      | .[0] as $next
      | (if $next == $previous then empty elif n>=0 then $previous else empty end), 
        (if $next == $previous then . else push($next) end | _hamming) 
      end;
  [[0,0,0], [ [[1,0,0]] ,[[0,1,0]], [[0,0,1]] ], 1] | _hamming;

Examples

# The first twenty Hamming numbers as integers:
hamming(-20) | hamming_toi
# => (see elsewhere)

# 1691st as a Hamming triple:
hamming(-1691)
# => [5,12,3]

# The millionth:
hamming(-1000000)
# => [55,47,64]

Julia

Simple brute force algorithm, derived from the discussion at ProgrammingPraxis.com.

function hammingsequence(N)
    if N < 1
        throw("Hamming sequence exponent must be a positive integer")
    end
    ham = N > 4000 ? Vector{BigInt}([1]) : Vector{Int}([1])
    base2, base3, base5 = (1, 1, 1)
    for i in 1:N-1
        x = min(2ham[base2], 3ham[base3], 5ham[base5])
        push!(ham, x)
        if 2ham[base2] <= x
            base2 += 1
        end
        if 3ham[base3] <= x
            base3 += 1
        end
        if 5ham[base5] <= x
            base5 += 1
        end
    end
    ham
end
 
println(hammingsequence(20)) 
println(hammingsequence(1691)[end])
println(hammingsequence(1000000)[end])
Output:

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 36] 2125764000 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

The above code is terribly inefficient, just as said, but can be improved by about a factor of two by using intermediate variables (next2, next3, and next5) to avoid recalculating the long multi-precision integers for each comparison, as it seems that the Julia compiler (version 1.0.2) is not doing common sub expression elimination:

function hammingsequence(N::Int)
    if N < 1
        throw("Hamming sequence index must be a positive integer")
    end
    ham = Vector{BigInt}([1])
    base2, base3, base5 = 1, 1, 1
    next2, next3, next5 = BigInt(2), BigInt(3), BigInt(5)
    for _ in 1:N-1
        x = min(next2, next3, next5)
        push!(ham, x)
        next2 <= x && (base2 += 1; next2 = 2ham[base2])
        next3 <= x && (base3 += 1; next3 = 3ham[base3])
        next5 <= x && (base5 += 1; next5 = 5ham[base5])
    end
    ham
end

Infinite generator, avoiding duplicates, using logarithms for faster processing

The above code is slow for several reasons, partly because it is doing many multi-precision integer multiplications requiring much memory allocation and garbage collection for which Julia is quite slow, but also because there are many repeated calculations (3 times 2 equals 2 times three, etc.). The following code is about 60 times faster by using floating point logarithms for multiplication and comparison; it also is an infinite generator (an iterator), which means that memory consumption can be greatly reduced by eliminating values which are no longer of any use:

Translation of: Nim
struct LogRep
    lg :: Float64
    x2 :: UInt32
    x3 :: UInt32
    x5 :: UInt32
end
const ONE = LogRep(0.0, 0, 0, 0)
const LB2_2 = 1.0
const LB2_3 = log(2,3)
const LB2_5 = log(2,5)
function mult2(lr :: LogRep) # :: LogRep
    LogRep(lr.lg + LB2_2, lr.x2 + 1, lr.x3, lr.x5)
end
function mult3(lr :: LogRep) # :: LogRep
    LogRep(lr.lg + LB2_3, lr.x2, lr.x3 + 1, lr.x5)
end
function mult5(lr :: LogRep) # :: LogRep
    LogRep(lr.lg + LB2_5, lr.x2, lr.x3, lr.x5 + 1)
end
function lr2BigInt(lr :: LogRep) # :: BigInt
    BigInt(2)^lr.x2 * BigInt(3)^lr.x3 * BigInt(5)^lr.x5
end

mutable struct HammingsLog
    s2 :: Vector{LogRep}
    s3 :: Vector{LogRep}
    s5 :: LogRep
    mrg :: LogRep
    s2hdi :: Int
    s3hdi :: Int
    HammingsLog() = new(
        [ONE],
        [mult3(ONE)],
        mult5(ONE),
        mult3(ONE),
        1, 1
    )
end
Base.eltype(::Type{HammingsLog}) = LogRep
function Base.iterate(HM::HammingsLog, st = HM) # :: Union{Nothing,Tuple{LogRep,HammingsLog}}
    s2sz = length(st.s2)
    if st.s2hdi + st.s2hdi - 2 >= s2sz
        ns2sz = s2sz - st.s2hdi + 1
        copyto!(st.s2, 1, st.s2, st.s2hdi, ns2sz)
        resize!(st.s2, ns2sz); st.s2hdi = 1
    end
    rslt = @inbounds(st.s2[st.s2hdi])
    if rslt.lg < st.mrg.lg
        st.s2hdi += 1
    else
        s3sz = length(st.s3)
        if st.s3hdi + st.s3hdi - 2 >= s3sz
            ns3sz = s3sz - st.s3hdi + 1
            copyto!(st.s3, 1, st.s3, st.s3hdi, ns3sz)
            resize!(st.s3, ns3sz); st.s3hdi = 1
        end
        rslt = st.mrg; push!(st.s3, mult3(rslt))
        st.s3hdi += 1; chkv = @inbounds(st.s3[st.s3hdi])
        if chkv.lg < st.s5.lg
            st.mrg = chkv
        else
            st.mrg = st.s5; st.s5 = mult5(st.s5); st.s3hdi -= 1
        end
    end
    push!(st.s2, mult2(rslt)); rslt, st
end

function test(n :: Int) :: Tuple{LogRep, Float64}
    start = time(); rslt :: LogRep = ONE
    count = n; for t in HammingsLog() count <= 1 && (rslt = t; break); count -= 1 end
    elpsd = (time() - start) * 1000
    rslt, elpsd
end

foreach(x -> print(lr2BigInt(x)," "), (Iterators.take(HammingsLog(), 20))); println()
let count = 1691; for t in HammingsLog() count <= 1 && (println(lr2BigInt(t)); break); count -= 1 end end
rslt, elpsd = test(1000000)
println(lr2BigInt(rslt))
println("This last took $elpsd milliseconds.")
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
This last took 16.8759822845459 milliseconds.

The above execution time is as run on an Intel i5-6500 at 3.6 GHz (single threaded boost), and the program can find the billionth Hamming number in about 17 seconds.

Determination of the nth Hamming number by processing of error band

For some phenomenal speed in determining the nth Hamming/regular number, one doesn't need to find all the values up to that limit but rather only the values within an error band which is a factor of two either way from the correct value; this has the advantage that the number of processing loops are reduced from O(n^3) to O(n^(2/3)) for a considerable saving for larger ranges and has the further advantage that memory consumption is reduced to O(n^(1/3)) meaning that huge ranges can be computed on a common desktop computer. The folwingcode can compute the trillionth (10^12th) Hamming number is a couple of seconds:

function nthhamming(n :: UInt64) # :: Tuple{UInt32, UInt32, UInt32}
    # take care of trivial cases too small for band size estimation to work...
    n < 1 && throw("nthhamming:  argument must be greater than zero!!!")
    n < 2 && return (0, 0, 0)
    n < 3 && return (1, 0, 0)

    # some constants...
    log2of2, log2of3, log2of5 = 1.0, log(2, 3), log(2, 5)
    fctr, crctn = 6.0 * log2of3 * log2of5, log(2, sqrt(30))
    log2est = (fctr * Float64(n))^(1.0 / 3.0) - crctn # log2 answer from WP formula
    log2hi = log2est + 1.0 / log2est; width = 2.0 / log2est # up to 2X higher/lower

    # loop to find the count of regular numbers and band of possible candidates...
    count :: UInt64 = 0; band = Vector{Tuple{Float64,Tuple{UInt32,UInt32,UInt32}}}()
    fiveslmt = UInt32(ceil(log2hi / log2of5)); fives :: UInt32 = 0
    while fives < fiveslmt
        log2p = log2hi - fives * log2of5
        threeslmt = UInt32(ceil(log2p / log2of3)); threes :: UInt32 = 0
        while threes < threeslmt
            log2q = log2p - threes * log2of3
            twos = UInt32(floor(log2q)); frac = log2q - twos; count += twos + 1
            frac <= width && push!(band, (log2hi - frac, (twos, threes, fives)))
            threes += 1
        end
        fives += 1
    end

    # process the band found including checks for validity and range...
    n > count && throw("nthhamming:  band high estimate is too low!!!")
    ndx = count - n + 1
    ndx > length(band) && throw("nthhamming:  band width estimate is too narrow!!!")
    sort!(band, by=(tpl -> let (lg,_) = tpl; -lg end)) # sort in decending order

    # get and return the answer...
    _, tri = band[ndx]
    tri
end

foreach(x-> print(trival(nthhamming(UInt(x))), " "), 1:20); println()
println(trival(nthhamming(UInt64(1691))))
println(trival(nthhamming(UInt64(1000000))))

Above about a range of 10^13, a Float64 logarithm doesn't have enough precision to be able to sort the error band properly, so a refinement of using a "roll-your-own" extended precision logarithm must be used, as follows:

function nthhamming(n :: UInt64) # :: Tuple{UInt32, UInt32, UInt32}
    # take care of trivial cases too small for band size estimation to work...
    n < 1 && throw("nthhamming:  argument must be greater than zero!!!")
    n < 2 && return (0, 0, 0)
    n < 3 && return (1, 0, 0)

    # some constants...
    log2of2, log2of3, log2of5 = 1.0, log(2, 3), log(2, 5)
    fctr, crctn = 6.0 * log2of3 * log2of5, log(2, sqrt(30))
    log2est = (fctr * Float64(n))^(1.0 / 3.0) - crctn # log2 answer from WP formula
    log2hi = log2est + 1.0 / log2est; width = 2.0 / log2est # up to 2X higher/lower

    # some really really big constants representing the "roll-your-own" big logs...
    biglog2of2 = BigInt(1267650600228229401496703205376)
    biglog2of3 = BigInt(2009178665378409109047848542368)
    biglog2of5 = BigInt(2943393543170754072109742145491)

    # loop to find the count of regular numbers and band of possible candidates...
    count :: UInt64 = 0; band = Vector{Tuple{BigInt,Tuple{UInt32,UInt32,UInt32}}}()
    fiveslmt = UInt32(ceil(log2hi / log2of5)); fives :: UInt32 = 0
    while fives < fiveslmt
        log2p = log2hi - fives * log2of5
        threeslmt = UInt32(ceil(log2p / log2of3)); threes :: UInt32 = 0
        while threes < threeslmt
            log2q = log2p - threes * log2of3
            twos = UInt32(floor(log2q)); frac = log2q - twos; count += twos + 1
            if frac <= width
                biglog = biglog2of2 * twos + biglog2of3 * threes + biglog2of5 * fives
                push!(band, (biglog, (twos, threes, fives)))
            end
            threes += 1
        end
        fives += 1
    end

    # process the band found including checks for validity and range...
    n > count && throw("nthhamming:  band high estimate is too low!!!")
    ndx = count - n + 1
    ndx > length(band) && throw("nthhamming:  band width estimate is too narrow!!!")
    sort!(band, by=(tpl -> let (lg,_) = tpl; -lg end)) # sort in decending order

    # get and return the answer...
    _, tri = band[ndx]
    tri
end

The above code can find the trillionth Hamming number in about two seconds (very little slower) and the thousand trillionth value in about 192 seconds. This routine would be able to find the million trillionth Hamming number in about 20,000 seconds or about five and a half hours.

Kotlin

Translation of: Java
import java.math.BigInteger
import java.util.*

val Three = BigInteger.valueOf(3)!!
val Five = BigInteger.valueOf(5)!!

fun updateFrontier(x : BigInteger, pq : PriorityQueue<BigInteger>) {
    pq.add(x.shiftLeft(1))
    pq.add(x.multiply(Three))
    pq.add(x.multiply(Five))
}

fun hamming(n : Int) : BigInteger {
    val frontier = PriorityQueue<BigInteger>()
    updateFrontier(BigInteger.ONE, frontier)
    var lowest = BigInteger.ONE
    for (i in 1 .. n-1) {
        lowest = frontier.poll() ?: lowest
        while (frontier.peek() == lowest)
            frontier.poll()
        updateFrontier(lowest, frontier)
    }
    return lowest
}

fun main(args : Array<String>) {
    System.out.print("Hamming(1 .. 20) =")
    for (i in 1 .. 20)
        System.out.print(" ${hamming(i)}")
    System.out.println("\nHamming(1691) = ${hamming(1691)}")
    System.out.println("Hamming(1000000) = ${hamming(1000000)}")
}
Output:
Hamming(1 .. 20) = 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36
Hamming(1691) = 2125764000
Hamming(1000000) = 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Overloaded function:

import java.math.BigInteger
import java.util.*

val One = BigInteger.ONE!!
val Three = BigInteger.valueOf(3)!!
val Five = BigInteger.valueOf(5)!!

fun PriorityQueue<BigInteger>.update(x: BigInteger) : PriorityQueue<BigInteger> {
    add(x.shiftLeft(1))
    add(x.multiply(Three))
    add(x.multiply(Five))
    return this
}

fun hamming(n: Int): BigInteger {
    val frontier = PriorityQueue<BigInteger>().update(One)
    var lowest = One
    repeat(n - 1) {
        lowest = frontier.poll() ?: lowest
        while (frontier.peek() == lowest)
            frontier.poll()
        frontier.update(lowest)
    }
    return lowest
}

fun hamming(i : Iterable<Int>) : Iterable<BigInteger> = i.map { hamming(it) }

fun main(args: Array<String>) {
    val r = 1..20
    println("Hamming($r) = " + hamming(r))
    arrayOf(1691, 1000000).forEach { println("Hamming($it) = " + hamming(it)) }
}

Recursive function:

import java.math.BigInteger
import java.util.*

val One = BigInteger.ONE!!
val Three = BigInteger.valueOf(3)!!
val Five = BigInteger.valueOf(5)!!

infix fun PriorityQueue<BigInteger>.update(x: BigInteger) : PriorityQueue<BigInteger> {
    add(x.shiftLeft(1))
    add(x.multiply(Three))
    add(x.multiply(Five))
    return this
}

fun hamming(a: Any?): Any = when (a) {
    is Number -> {
        val pq = PriorityQueue<BigInteger>() update One
        var lowest = One
        repeat(a.toInt() - 1) {
            lowest = pq.poll() ?: lowest
            while (pq.peek() == lowest) pq.poll()
            pq update lowest
        }
        lowest
    }
    is Iterable<*> -> a.map { hamming(it) }
    else -> throw IllegalArgumentException("cannot parse argument")
}

fun main(args: Array<String>) {
    arrayOf(1..20, 1691, 1000000).forEach { println("Hamming($it) = " + hamming(it)) }
}
Output:
Hamming(1..20) = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 36]
Hamming(1691) = 2125764000
Hamming(1000000) = 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Functional Style Eliminating Duplicates, Optional Sequence Output

The following code implements a functional version, with the only mutable state that required to implement a recursive binding as commented in the code. It is fast because it uses non-genereric functions so that much of the boxing/unboxing can be optimized away, and it takes very little memory because of the avoiding duplicates, the order that the primes are processed with least dense first, and because it is implemented in such a way so as to use only local bindings for the heads of the lazy lists so that they can be consumed as used and garbage collected away. Kotlin does not have a lazy list like Haskell or a memoized lazy Stream like Scala, so the code implements a basic version of LazyList to be used by the algorithm (Java 8 Streams are not memoized as required here):

Translation of: scala
import java.math.BigInteger as BI

data class LazyList<T>(val head: T, val lztail: Lazy<LazyList<T>?>) {
    fun toSequence() = generateSequence(this) { it.lztail.value }
            .map { it.head }
}

fun hamming(): LazyList<BI> {
    fun merge(s1: LazyList<BI>, s2: LazyList<BI>): LazyList<BI> {
        val s1v = s1.head; val s2v = s2.head
        if (s1v < s2v) {
            return LazyList(s1v, lazy({->merge(s1.lztail.value!!, s2)}))
        } else {
            return LazyList(s2v, lazy({->merge(s1, s2.lztail.value!!)}))
        }
    }
    fun llmult(m: BI, s: LazyList<BI>): LazyList<BI> {
        fun llmlt(ss: LazyList<BI>): LazyList<BI> {
            return LazyList(m * ss.head, lazy({->llmlt(ss.lztail.value!!)}))
        }
        return llmlt(s)
    }
    fun u(s: LazyList<BI>?, n: Long): LazyList<BI> {
        var r: LazyList<BI>? = null // mutable nullable so can do the below
        if (s == null) { // recursively referenced variables are ugly!!!
            r = llmult(BI.valueOf(n), LazyList(BI.valueOf(1), lazy{ -> r }))
        } else { // recursively referenced variables only work with lazy
            r = merge(s, llmult(BI.valueOf(n), // or a loop race limit
                                LazyList(BI.valueOf(1), lazy{ -> r })))
        }
        return r
    }
    val prms = arrayOf(5L, 3L, 2L)
    val thunk = {->prms.fold<Long,LazyList<BI>?>(null, {s, n -> u(s,n)})!!}
    return LazyList(BI.valueOf(1), lazy(thunk))
}

fun main(args: Array<String>) {
	tailrec fun nth(n: Int, h: LazyList<BI>): BI =
		if (n > 1) { nth(n - 1, h.lztail.value!!) }
		else { h.head } // non-generic faster: boxing optimized away
	println(hamming().toSequence().take(20).toList())
	println(nth(1691, hamming()))
	val strt = System.currentTimeMillis()
	println(nth(1000000, hamming()))
	val stop = System.currentTimeMillis()
	println("Took ${stop - strt} milliseconds for the last.")
}
Output:
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 36]
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Took 381 milliseconds for the last.

Run on a AMD Bulldozer FX8120 3.1 GHz which is about half the speed as an equivalent Intel (but also half the price).

Lambdatalk

1) recursive version

{def hamming
 {def hamming.loop
  {lambda {:h :a :i :b :j :c :k :m :n}
   {if {>= :n :m}
    then {A.last :h}
    else {let { {:h {A.set! :n {min :a :b :c} :h}}
                {:a :a} {:i :i}
                {:b :b} {:j :j}
                {:c :c} {:k :k}
                {:m :m} {:n :n}
              } {hamming.loop :h
                 {if {= :a {A.get :n :h}}
                  then {* 2 {A.get {+ :i 1} :h}} {+ :i 1}
                  else :a :i}
                 {if {= :b {A.get :n :h}}
                  then {* 3 {A.get {+ :j 1} :h}} {+ :j 1} 
                  else :b :j}
                 {if {= :c {A.get :n :h}}
                  then {* 5 {A.get {+ :k 1} :h}} {+ :k 1} 
                  else :c :k}
                 :m
                 {+ :n 1} }
 }}}}
 {lambda {:n}
  {hamming.loop {A.new {S.serie 1 :n}} 2 0 3 0 5 0 :n 1}
}}
-> hamming

{S.map hamming {S.serie 1 20}}
-> 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36

{hamming 1691}   
-> 2125764000  // < 200ms

Currently limited to javascript's integers and by stackoverflow on some computers.

2) iterative version

Build a table of 2^i•3^j•5^k from i,j,k = 0 to n and sort it.

2.1) compute

{def ham
 {lambda {:n}
  {S.sort <
   {S.map {{lambda {:n :i}
   {S.map {{lambda {:n :i :j} 
   {S.map {{lambda {:i :j :k} 
                   {* {pow 2 :i} {pow 3 :j} {pow 5 :k}}} :i :j}
   {S.serie 0 :n} } } :n :i}
   {S.serie 0 :n} } } :n}
   {S.serie 0 :n} }
}}} 
-> ham 

{def H {ham 30}}
-> H

{S.slice 0 19 {H}}
-> 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36

{S.get 1690 {H}} 
-> 2125764000  // on my macbook pro

2.2) display

Display a hamming number as 2a•3b•5c

{def factor
 {def factor.r
  {lambda {:n :i}
   {if {> :i :n}
    then 
    else {if {= {% :n :i} 0}
    then :i {factor.r {/ :n :i} :i}
    else {factor.r :n {+ :i 1}} }}}}
 {lambda {:n}
  :n is the product of 1 {factor.r :n 2} }}
-> factor

{def asproductofpowers
 {def asproductofpowers.loop
  {lambda {:a :b :c :n}
   {if {= {S.first :n} 1}
    then 2{sup :a}•3{sup :b}•5{sup :c}
    else {asproductofpowers.loop
          {if {= {S.first :n} 2} then {+ :a 1} else :a}
          {if {= {S.first :n} 3} then {+ :b 1} else :b}
          {if {= {S.first :n} 5} then {+ :c 1} else :c}
          {W.rest :n} }
 }}}
 {lambda {:n}
  {asproductofpowers.loop 0 0 0 {S.reverse :n}}}}
-> asproductofpowers  

{factor 2125764000}
-> 2125764000 is the product of 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 5 5 5 

{asproductofpowers {factor 2125764000}}
-> 2^53^125^3

{S.map {lambda {:i} {div}:i: {S.get :i {H}} =
                    {asproductofpowers {factor {S.get :i {H}}}}} 
       {S.serie 0 19}}
->
0: 1 = 2^03^05^0 
1: 2 = 2^13^05^0 
2: 3 = 2^03^15^0 
3: 4 = 2^23^05^0 
4: 5 = 2^03^05^1 
5: 6 = 2^13^15^0 
6: 8 = 2^33^05^0 
7: 9 = 2^03^25^0 
8: 10 = 2^13^05^1 
9: 12 = 2^23^15^0 
10: 15 = 2^03^15^1 
11: 16 = 2^43^05^0 
12: 18 = 2^13^25^0 
13: 20 = 2^23^05^1 
14: 24 = 2^33^15^0 
15: 25 = 2^03^05^2 
16: 27 = 2^03^35^0 
17: 30 = 2^13^15^1 
18: 32 = 2^53^05^0 
19: 36 = 2^23^25^0

See http://lambdaway.free.fr/lambdawalks/?view=hamming_numbers3 for a better display as 2a•3b•5c.

Liberty BASIC

LB has unlimited precision integers.

dim h( 1000000)

for i =1 to 20
    print hamming( i); " ";
next i

print
print "H( 1691)", hamming( 1691)
print "H( 1000000)", hamming( 1000000)

end

function hamming( limit)
    h( 0) =1
    x2 =2: x3 =3: x5 =5
    i  =0: j  =0: k  =0
    for n =1 to limit
        h( n) = min( x2, min( x3, x5))
        if x2 = h( n) then i = i +1: x2 =2 *h( i)
        if x3 = h( n) then j = j +1: x3 =3 *h( j)
        if x5 = h( n) then k = k +1: x5 =5 *h( k)
    next n
    hamming =h( limit -1)
end function
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36
H( 1691)
2125764000
H( 1000000) 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

to init.ham
  ; queues
  make "twos   [1]
  make "threes [1]
  make "fives  [1]
end
to next.ham
                          localmake "ham first :twos
  if less? first :threes :ham [make "ham first :threes]
  if less? first :fives  :ham [make "ham first :fives]

  if equal? :ham first :twos   [ignore dequeue "twos]
  if equal? :ham first :threes [ignore dequeue "threes]
  if equal? :ham first :fives  [ignore dequeue "fives]

  queue "twos   :ham * 2
  queue "threes :ham * 3
  queue "fives  :ham * 5

  output :ham
end

init.ham
repeat      20 [print  next.ham]
repeat 1690-20 [ignore next.ham]
print next.ham

Lua

function hiter()
  hammings = {1}
  prev, vals = {1, 1, 1}
  index = 1
  local function nextv()
    local n, v = 1, hammings[prev[1]]*2
	if hammings[prev[2]]*3 < v then n, v = 2, hammings[prev[2]]*3 end
	if hammings[prev[3]]*5 < v then n, v = 3, hammings[prev[3]]*5 end
	prev[n] = prev[n] + 1
	if hammings[index] == v then return nextv() end
	index = index + 1
	hammings[index] = v
	return v
  end
  return nextv
end

j = hiter()
for i = 1, 20 do
  print(j())
end
n, l = 0, 0
while n < 2^31 do n, l = j(), n end
print(l)

M2000 Interpreter

For Long Only

We have to exit loop (and function) before calculating new X2 or X3 or X4 and get overflow error

Module hamming_long {
	function hamming(l as long, &h(),&last()) {
		l=if(l<1->1&, l)
		long oldlen=len(h())
		if oldlen<l then dim h(l) else =h(l-1): exit 
		def long  i, j, k, n, m, x2, x3, x5, ll
		stock last(0) out x2,x3,x5,i,j,k
		n=oldlen : ll=l-1
		{	m=x2
			if m>x3 then m=x3
			if m>x5 then m=x5
			h(n)=m
			if n>=1690 then =h(n):break
			if m=x2 then i++:x2=2&*h(i)
			if m=x3 then j++:x3=3&*h(j)
			if m=x5 then k++:x5=5&*h(k)
			if n<ll then n++: loop
		}
		stock last(0) in x2,x3,x5,i,j,k
		=h(ll)
	}
	dim h(1)=1&, last()
	def long i
	const nl$={
	}
	document doc$
	last()=(2&,3&,5&,0&,0&,0&)
	for i=1 to 20
		Doc$=format$("{0::-10} {1::-10}", i, hamming(i,&h(), &last()))+nl$
	next i
	i=1691
	Doc$=format$("{0::-10} {1::-10}", i, hamming(i,&h(), &last()))+nl$
	print #-2,Doc$
	clipboard Doc$
}
 hamming_long
Output:
         1          1
         2          2
         3          3
         4          4
         5          5
         6          6
         7          8
         8          9
         9         10
        10         12
        11         15
        12         16
        13         18
        14         20
        15         24
        16         25
        17         27
        18         30
        19         32
        20         36
      1691 2125764000

Using Decimal type

Max hamming number is the 43208th

We have to exit loop (and function) before calculating new X2 or X3 or X4 and get overflow error

Module hamming {
	function hamming(l as long, &h(),&last()) {
		l=if(l<1->1&, l)
		oldlen=len(h())
		if oldlen<l then dim h(l) else =h(l-1): exit 
		def decimal  i, j, k, m, x2, x3, x5
		stock last(0) out x2,x3,x5,i,j,k
		n=oldlen : ll=l-1&
		{	m=x2
			if m>x3 then m=x3
			if m>x5 then m=x5
			h(n)=m
			if n>=43207& then =h(n):break
			if m=x2 then i++:x2=2@*h(i)
			if m=x3 then j++:x3=3@*h(j)
			if m=x5 then k++:x5=5@*h(k)
			if n<ll then n++: loop
		}
		stock last(0) in x2,x3,x5,i,j,k
		=h(ll)
	}
	dim h(1)=1@, last()
	last()=(2@,3@,5@,0@,0@,0@)
	Document doc$
	const nl$={
	}
	for i=1 to 20
		Doc$=format$("{0::-10} {1::-28}", i, hamming(i,&h(), &last()))+nl$
	next i
	i=1691
	Doc$=format$("{0::-10} {1::-28}", i, hamming(i,&h(), &last()))+nl$
	i=9999
	Doc$=format$("{0::-10} {1::-28}", i, hamming(i,&h(), &last()))+nl$
	i=43208
	Doc$=format$("{0::-10} {1::-28}", i, hamming(i,&h(), &last()))+nl$
	print #-2, Doc$
	clipboard Doc$
}
hamming
Output:
         1                            1
         2                            2
         3                            3
         4                            4
         5                            5
         6                            6
         7                            8
         8                            9
         9                           10
        10                           12
        11                           15
        12                           16
        13                           18
        14                           20
        15                           24
        16                           25
        17                           27
        18                           30
        19                           32
        20                           36
      1691                   2125764000
      9999           288230376151711744
     43208 9164837199872000000000000000

Mathematica / Wolfram Language

HammingList[N_] := Module[{A, B, C}, {A, B, C} = (N^(1/3))*{2.8054745679851933, 1.7700573778298891, 1.2082521307023026} - {1, 1, 1};
 Take[ Sort@Flatten@Table[ 2^x * 3^y * 5^z , 
{x, 0, A}, {y, 0, (-B/A)*x + B}, {z, 0, C - (C/A)*x - (C/B)*y}], N]];
HammingList[20]
-> {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 36}
HammingList[1691] // Last
-> 2125764000
HammingList[1000000] // Last
->519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

MATLAB / Octave

Translation of: Julia

The n parameter was chosen by trial and error. You have to pick an n large enough that the powers of 2, 3 and 5 will all be greater than n at the 1691st Hamming number.

n = 40;

powers_2 = 2.^[0:n-1];
powers_3 = 3.^[0:n-1];
powers_5 = 5.^[0:n-1];

matrix = powers_2' * powers_3;
powers_23 = sort(reshape(matrix,n*n,1));


matrix = powers_23 * powers_5;
powers_235 = sort(reshape(matrix,n*n*n,1));

%
% Remove the integer overflow values.
%
powers_235 = powers_235(powers_235 > 0);

disp(powers_235(1:20))
disp(powers_235(1691))

Mojo

Since current Mojo (version 0.7) does not have many forms of recursive expression, the below is an imperative version of the First In Last Out (FILO) Queue version of the fastest iterative Nim version using logarithmic approximations for the comparison and final conversion of the power tuples to a big integer output. Since Mojo does not currently have a big integer library, enough of the required functionality of one (multiplication and conversion to string) is implemented in the following code:

Translation of: Nim
from collections.vector import (DynamicVector, CollectionElement)
from math import (log2, trunc, pow)
from memory import memset_zero #, memcpy)
from time import now

alias cCOUNT: Int = 1_000_000

struct BigNat(Stringable): # enough just to support conversion and printing
  ''' Enough "infinite" precision to support as required here - multiply and
        divide by 10 conversion to string...
  '''
  var contents: DynamicVector[UInt32]
  fn __init__(inout self):
    self.contents = DynamicVector[UInt32]()
  fn __init__(inout self, val: UInt32):
    self.contents = DynamicVector[UInt32](4)
    self.contents.resize(1, val)
  fn __copyinit__(inout self, existing: Self):
    self.contents = existing.contents
  fn __moveinit__(inout self, owned existing: Self):
    self.contents = existing.contents^
  fn __str__(self) -> String:
    var rslt: String = ""
    var v = self.contents
    while len(v) > 0:
      var t: UInt64 = 0
      for i in range(len(v) - 1, -1, -1):
        t = ((t << 32) + v[i].to_int())
        v[i] = (t // 10).to_int(); t -= v[i].to_int() * 10
      var sz = len(v) - 1
      while sz >= 0 and v[sz] == 0: sz -= 1
      v.resize(sz + 1, 0)
      rslt = str(t) + rslt
    return rslt
  fn mult(inout self, mltplr: Self):
    var rslt = DynamicVector[UInt32]()
    rslt.resize(len(self.contents) + len(mltplr.contents), 0)
    for i in range(len(mltplr.contents)):
      var t: UInt64 = 0
      for j in range(len(self.contents)):
        t += self.contents[j].to_int() * mltplr.contents[i].to_int() + rslt[i + j].to_int()
        rslt[i + j] = (t & 0xFFFFFFFF).to_int(); t >>= 32
      rslt[i + len(self.contents)] += t.to_int()
    var sz = len(rslt) - 1
    while sz >= 0 and rslt[sz] == 0: sz -= 1
    rslt.resize(sz + 1, 0); self.contents = rslt

alias lb2: Float64 = 1.0
alias lb3: Float64 = log2[DType.float64, 1](3.0)
alias lb5: Float64 = log2[DType.float64, 1](5.0)

@value
struct LogRep(CollectionElement, Stringable):
  var logrep: Float64
  var x2: UInt32
  var x3: UInt32
  var x5: UInt32
  fn __del__(owned self): return
  @always_inline
  fn mul2(self) -> Self:
    return LogRep(self.logrep + lb2, self.x2 + 1, self.x3, self.x5)
  @always_inline
  fn mul3(self) -> Self:
    return LogRep(self.logrep + lb3, self.x2, self.x3 + 1, self.x5)
  @always_inline
  fn mul5(self) -> Self:
    return LogRep(self.logrep + lb5, self.x2, self.x3, self.x5 + 1)
  fn __str__(self) -> String:
    var rslt = BigNat(1)
    fn expnd(inout rslt: BigNat, bs: UInt32, n: UInt32):
      var bsm = BigNat(bs); var nm = n
      while nm > 0:
        if (nm & 1) != 0: rslt.mult(bsm)
        bsm.mult(bsm); nm >>= 1
    expnd(rslt, 2, self.x2); expnd(rslt, 3, self.x3); expnd(rslt, 5, self.x5)
    return str(rslt)

alias oneLR: LogRep = LogRep(0.0, 0, 0, 0)

alias LogRepThunk = fn() escaping -> LogRep

fn hammingsLogImp() -> LogRepThunk:
  var s2 = DynamicVector[LogRep](); var s3 = DynamicVector[LogRep](); var s5 = oneLR; var mrg = oneLR
  s2.resize(512, oneLR); s2[0] = oneLR.mul2(); s3.resize(1, oneLR); s3[0] = oneLR.mul3()
#  var s2p = s2.steal_data(); var s3p = s3.steal_data()
  var s2hdi = 0; var s2tli = -1; var s3hdi = 0; var s3tli = -1
  @always_inline
  fn next() escaping -> LogRep:
    var rslt = s2[s2hdi]
    var s2len = len(s2)
    s2tli += 1;
    if s2tli >= s2len:
      s2tli = 0
    if s2hdi == s2tli:
      if s2len < 1024:
        s2.resize(1024, oneLR)
      else:
        s2.resize(s2len + s2len, oneLR) # ; s2p = s2.steal_data()
        for i in range(s2hdi):
          s2[s2len + i] = s2[i]
#        memcpy[UInt8, 0](s2p + s2len, s2p, sizeof[LogRep]() * s2hdi)
        s2tli += s2len; s2len += s2len
    if rslt.logrep < mrg.logrep:
      s2hdi += 1
      if s2hdi >= s2len:
        s2hdi = 0
    else:
      rslt = mrg
      var s3len = len(s3)
      s3tli += 1;
      if s3tli >= s3len:
        s3tli = 0      
      if s3hdi == s3tli:
        if s3len < 1024:
          s3.resize(1024, oneLR)
        else:
          s3.resize(s3len + s3len, oneLR) # ; s3p = s3.steal_data()
          for i in range(s3hdi):
            s3[s3len + i] = s3[i]
#          memcpy[UInt8, 0](s3p + s3len, s3p, sizeof[LogRep]() * s3hdi)
          s3tli += s3len; s3len += s3len
      if mrg.logrep < s5.logrep:
        s3hdi += 1
        if s3hdi >= s3len:
          s3hdi = 0
      else:
        s5 = s5.mul5()
      s3[s3tli] = rslt.mul3(); let t = s3[s3hdi]; 
      mrg = t if t.logrep < s5.logrep else s5
    s2[s2tli] = rslt.mul2(); return rslt
  return next

fn main():
  print("The first 20 Hamming numbers are:")
  var f = hammingsLogImp();
  for i in range(20): print_no_newline(f(), " ")
  print()
  f = hammingsLogImp(); var h: LogRep = oneLR
  for i in range(1691): h = f()
  print("The 1691st Hamming number is", h)
  let strt: Int = now() 
  f = hammingsLogImp()
  for i in range(cCOUNT): h = f()
  let elpsd = (now() - strt) / 1000

  print("The " + str(cCOUNT) + "th Hamming number is:")
  print("2**" + str(h.x2) + " * 3**" + str(h.x3) + " * 5**" + str(h.x5))
  let lg2 = lb2 * Float64(h.x2.to_int()) + lb3 * Float64(h.x3.to_int()) + lb5 * Float64(h.x5.to_int())
  let lg10 = lg2 / log2(Float64(10))
  let expnt = trunc(lg10); let num = pow(Float64(10.0), lg10 - expnt)
  let apprxstr = str(num) + "E+" + str(expnt.to_int())
  print("Approximately: ", apprxstr)
  let answrstr = str(h)
  print("The result has", len(answrstr), "digits.")
  print(answrstr)
  print("This took " + str(elpsd) + " microseconds.")
Output:
The first 20 Hamming numbers are:
1  2  3  4  5  6  8  9  10  12  15  16  18  20  24  25  27  30  32  36  
The 1691st Hamming number is 2125764000
The 1000000th Hamming number is:
2**55 * 3**47 * 5**64
Approximately:  5.1931278110620553E+83
The result has 84 digits.
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
This took 3626.192 microseconds.

The above was as run on an AMD 7840HS CPU single-thread boosted to 5.1 GHz. It is about the same speed as the Nim version from which it was translated.

MUMPS

Hamming(n)	New count,ok,next,number,which
	For which=2,3,5 Set number=1
	For count=1:1:n Do
	. Set ok=0 Set:count<21 ok=1 Set:count=1691 ok=1 Set:count=n ok=1
	. Write:ok !,$Justify(count,5),": ",number
	. For which=2,3,5 Set next(number*which)=which
	. Set number=$Order(next(""))
	. Kill next(number)
	. Quit
	Quit
Do Hamming(2000)
 
    1: 1
    2: 2
    3: 3
    4: 4
    5: 5
    6: 6
    7: 8
    8: 9
    9: 10
   10: 12
   11: 15
   12: 16
   13: 18
   14: 20
   15: 24
   16: 25
   17: 27
   18: 30
   19: 32
   20: 36
 1691: 2125764000
 2000: 8062156800

Nim

Library: bigints

Classic Dijkstra algorithm

import bigints

proc min(a: varargs[BigInt]): BigInt =
  result = a[0]
  for i in 1..a.high:
    if a[i] < result: result = a[i]

proc hamming(limit: int): BigInt =
  var
    h = newSeq[BigInt](limit)
    x2 = initBigInt(2)
    x3 = initBigInt(3)
    x5 = initBigInt(5)
    i, j, k = 0
  for i in 0..h.high: h[i] = initBigInt(1)

  for n in 1 ..< limit:
    h[n] = min(x2, x3, x5)
    if x2 == h[n]:
      inc i
      x2 = h[i] * 2
    if x3 == h[n]:
      inc j
      x3 = h[j] * 3
    if x5 == h[n]:
      inc k
      x5 = h[k] * 5

  result = h[h.high]

for i in 1 .. 20:
  stdout.write hamming(i), " "
echo ""
echo hamming(1691)
echo hamming(1_000_000)
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

The above takes over a second to produce the millionth Hamming number on many machines.

Slightly more efficient version

The following code improves on the above by reducing the number of computationally-time-expensive BigInt comparisons slightly:

import bigints, times
 
proc hamming(limit: int): BigInt =
  doAssert limit > 0
  var
    h = newSeq[BigInt](limit)
    x2 = initBigInt(2)
    x3 = initBigInt(3)
    x5 = initBigInt(5)
    i, j, k = 0
  h[0] = initBigInt(1)

  # BigInt comparisons are expensive, reduce them...
  proc min3(x, y, z: BigInt): (int, BigInt) =
    let (cs, r1) = if y == z: (6, y)
                   elif y < z: (2, y) else: (4, z)
    if x == r1: (cs or 1, x)
    elif x < r1: (1, x) else: (cs, r1)

  for n in 1 ..< limit:
    let (cs, e1) = min3(x2, x3, x5)
    h[n] = e1
    if (cs and 1) != 0: i += 1; x2 = h[i] * 2
    if (cs and 2) != 0: j += 1; x3 = h[j] * 3
    if (cs and 4) != 0: k += 1; x5 = h[k] * 5
  
  h[h.high]
 
for i in 1 .. 20:
  stdout.write hamming(i), " "
echo ""
echo hamming(1691)

let strt = epochTime()
let rslt = hamming(1_000_000)
let stop = epochTime() 

echo rslt
echo "This last took ", (stop - strt)*1000, " milliseconds."
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
This last took 566.3743019104004 milliseconds.

It can be shown that the above reduces the execution time by about 20 per cent. But note that compiling with --gc:arc allows to lower execution time to 380-390 ms.

Functional iterator sequence, eliminating duplicate calculations and reducing memory use

The above code still wastes quite a lot of time doing redundant BigInt calculations (ie. 2 times 3, 3 times 2, etc.) and as well consumes a huge amount of memory for larger Hamming number determination as it uses an array as large as the range. The below code eliminates duplicate calculations and reduces memory use by using a Nim version of a lazy list internally so that unused back calculated values can be eliminated by the garbage collector. Thus, execution time for BigInt calculations is reduced by a constant factor of about two and a half and memory use is reduced from O(n) to O(n^(2/3)) in the following code:

Translation of: Haskell
Works with: Nim 1.4.0

Note, the following code uses the "bigints" library that doesn't ship with the Nim compiler; install it with "nimble install bigints".

import bigints, times
 
iterator func_hamming() : BigInt =
  type Thunk[T] = proc(): T {.closure.}
  type Lazy[T] = ref object of RootObj # tuple[val: T, thnk: Thunk[T]]
    val: T
    thnk: Thunk[T]
  proc force[T](me: var Lazy[T]): T = # not thread-safe; needs lock on thunk
    if me.thnk != nil: me.val = me.thnk(); me.thnk = nil
    me.val
  type LazyList[T] = ref object of RootObj # tuple[hd: T, tl: Lazy[LazyList[T]]]
    hd: T
    tl: Lazy[LazyList[T]]
  type Mytype = LazyList[BigInt]
  proc merge(x, y: Mytype): Mytype =
    let xh = x.hd; let yh = y.hd
    if xh < yh:
      let mthnk = proc(): Mytype = merge x.tl.force, y
      let mlzy = Lazy[Mytype](thnk: mthnk)
      Mytype(hd: xh, tl: mlzy)
    else:
      let mthnk = proc(): Mytype = merge x, y.tl.force
      let mlzy = Lazy[Mytype](thnk: mthnk)
      Mytype(hd: yh, tl: mlzy)
  proc smult(m: int32, s: Mytype): Mytype =
    proc smults(ss: Mytype): Mytype =
      let mthnk = proc(): Mytype = ss.tl.force.smults
      let mlzy = Lazy[Mytype](thnk: mthnk)
      Mytype(hd: ss.hd * m, tl: mlzy)
    s.smults
  proc u(s: Mytype, n: int32): Mytype =
    var r: Mytype
    let mthnk = proc(): Mytype = r
    let mlzy = Lazy[Mytype](thnk: mthnk)
    let frst = Mytype(hd: initBigInt 1, tl: mlzy)
    if s == nil: r = smult(n, frst) else: r = merge(s, smult(n, frst))
    r
  var hmg: Mytype = nil
  for p in [5i32, 3i32, 2i32]: hmg = u(hmg, p)
  yield initBigInt 1
  while true: # loop almost forever
    yield initBigInt hmg.hd
    hmg = hmg.tl.force

var cnt = 1
for h in func_hamming():
  if cnt > 20: break
  write stdout, h, " "; cnt += 1
echo ""
cnt = 1
for h in func_hamming():
  if cnt < 1691: cnt += 1; continue
  else: echo h; break

let strt = epochTime()
var rslt: BigInt
cnt = 1
for h in func_hamming():
  if cnt < 1000000: cnt += 1; continue
  else: rslt = h; break
let stop = epochTime() 

echo rslt
echo "This last took ", (stop - strt)*1000, " milliseconds."
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
This last took 464.9641513824463 milliseconds.

The above result was obtained by compiling with the default "mark-and-sweep" Garbage collector with -d:release -d:danger (all checking including bounds checks turned off); One should not use the new --gc:arc compilation argument (automatic reference counting) with this implementation as the lazy lists are cyclic but compiling with --gc:orc gives an execution time of about 80% of the execution time as compared to the conventional garbage collection, and is slower than the --gc:arc garbage collection by about half again the time (but correct as to not causing memory leaks) due to the extra time spent tracing cycles.

The beauty of Nim inline iterators as used here is that they are zero overhead (tested) so there is no run time penalty for using them.

Functional iterator sequence, eliminating duplicate calculations and using log approximations

Much of the time for above algorithm is spent doing big integer calculations using the extended precision bit integer library; the following code eliminates most of the big integer calculations by using logarithmic aproximations and just converting to big integers for the display of the results:

Works with: Nim 1.4.0

Note, the following code uses the "bigints" library that doesn't ship with the Nim compiler; install it with "nimble install bigints".

from times import inMilliseconds
import std/monotimes, bigints
from math import log2

type TriVal = (uint32, uint32, uint32)
type LogRep = (float64, TriVal)
type LogRepf = proc(x: LogRep): LogRep
const one: LogRep = (0.0f64, (0'u32, 0'u32, 0'u32))
proc `<`(me: LogRep, othr: LogRep): bool = me[0] < othr[0]

proc convertTrival2BigInt(tv: TriVal): BigInt = 
  proc xpnd(bs: uint, v: uint32): BigInt =
    result = initBigInt 1;
    var bsm = initBigInt bs;
    var vm = v.uint
    while vm > 0:
      if (vm and 1) != 0: result *= bsm
      bsm = bsm * bsm   # bsm *= bsm crashes.
      vm = vm shr 1 
  result = (2.xpnd  tv[0]) * (3.xpnd tv[1]) * (5.xpnd tv[2])
 
const lb2 = 1.0'f64
const lb3 = 3.0'f64.log2
const lb5 = 5.0'f64.log2

proc mul2(me: LogRep): LogRep =
  let (lr, tpl) = me; let (x2, x3, x5) = tpl
  (lr + lb2, (x2 + 1, x3, x5))

proc mul3(me: LogRep): LogRep =
  let (lr, tpl) = me; let (x2, x3, x5) = tpl
  (lr + lb3, (x2, x3 + 1, x5))

proc mul5(me: LogRep): LogRep =
  let (lr, tpl) = me; let (x2, x3, x5) = tpl
  (lr + lb5, (x2, x3, x5 + 1))

type
  LazyList = ref object
    hd: LogRep
    tlf: proc(): LazyList {.closure.}
    tl: LazyList

proc rest(ll: LazyList): LazyList = # not thread-safe; needs lock on thunk
  if ll.tlf != nil: ll.tl = ll.tlf(); ll.tlf = nil
  ll.tl

iterator log_func_hammings(until: int): TriVal =
  proc merge(x, y: LazyList): LazyList =
    let xh = x.hd
    let yh = y.hd
    if xh < yh: LazyList(hd: xh, tlf: proc(): auto = merge x.rest, y)
    else: LazyList(hd: yh, tlf: proc(): auto = merge x, y.rest)
  proc smult(mltf: LogRepf; s: LazyList): LazyList =
    proc smults(ss: LazyList): LazyList =
      LazyList(hd: ss.hd.mltf, tlf: proc(): auto = ss.rest.smults)
    s.smults
  proc unnsm(s: LazyList, mltf: LogRepf): LazyList =
    var r: LazyList = nil
    let frst = LazyList(hd: one, tlf: proc(): LazyList = r)
    r = if s == nil: smult mltf, frst else: s.merge smult(mltf, frst)
    r
  yield one[1]
  var hmpll: LazyList = ((nil.unnsm mul5).unnsm mul3).unnsm mul2
  for _ in 2 .. until:
    yield hmpll.hd[1]; hmpll = hmpll.rest # almost forever

proc main =
  stdout.write "The first 20 hammings are:  "
  for h in log_func_hammings(20): stdout.write h.convertTrival2BigInt, " "
  
  var lsth: TriVal
  for h in log_func_hammings(1691): lsth = h
  echo "\r\nThe 1691st Hamming number is:  ", lsth.convertTriVal2BigInt

  let strt = getMonotime()
  for h in log_func_hammings(1000000): lsth = h
  let elpsd = (getMonotime() - strt).inMilliseconds
  echo "The millionth Hamming number is:  ", lsth.convertTriVal2BigInt
  echo "This last took ", elpsd, " milliseconds."

main()
Output:
The first 20 hammings are:  1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 
The 1691st Hamming number is:  2125764000
The millionth Hamming number is:  519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
This last took 157 milliseconds.

As you can see, this new version is over twice as fast as the version using many big integer calculations, both due to much less computation and also due to not having to allocate and de-allocate the memory required for many big integer representations. Again, it is about 80% faster if the new --gc:orc memory management is used, which is slower than using the --gc:arc memory management that is yet another 25% faster but incorrect as it has a memory leak due to the cyclic lazy lists that it can't properly handle.

Most of the remaining time is spent in the many allocations and de-allocations of small structures in heap memory as is typical of functional algorithms. Further speed could be gained for the same algorithm as above by making allocations and de-allocations (now all the same size) from an implemented memory pool, which is what Haskell actually does inside its memory management system.

Imperative iterator implementation of the above functional version

The following code uses imperative techniques to implement the same algorithm, using sequences for storage, indexes for back pointers to the results of previous calculations, and custom deleting unused values in chunks in place (using constantly growing capacity) so that the same size of sequence can be longer used and many less new memory allocations need be made:

import bigints, times

iterator nodups_hamming(): BigInt =
  var
    m = newSeq[BigInt](1) # give it two values so doubling size works
    h = newSeq[BigInt](1) # reasonably size
    x5 = initBigInt 5
    mrg = initBigInt 3
    x53 = initBigInt 9 # already advanced one step
    x532 = initBigInt 2
    ih, jm, i, j = 0

  yield initBigInt 1 # trivial case of 1
  while true:
    let cph = h.len # move in-place to avoid allocation
    if i >= cph div 2: # move in-place to avoid allocation
      var s = i; var d = 0
      while s < ih: shallowCopy(h[d], h[s]); s += 1; d += 1
      ih -= i; i = 0
    if ih >= cph: h.setLen(2 * cph)
    if x532 < mrg: h[ih] = x532; x532 = h[i] * 2; i += 1
    else:
      h[ih] = mrg
      let cpm = m.len
      if j >= cpm div 2: # move in-place to avoid allocation
        var s = j; var d = 0
        while s < jm: shallowCopy(m[d], m[s]); s += 1; d += 1
        jm -= j; j = 0
      if jm >= cpm: m.setLen(2 * cpm)
      if x53 < x5: mrg = x53; x53 = m[j] * 3; j += 1
      else: mrg = x5; x5 = x5 * 5
      m[jm] = mrg
      jm += 1
    ih += 1

    yield h[ih - 1]


var cnt = 1
for h in nodups_hamming():
  if cnt > 20: break
  write stdout, h, " "; cnt += 1
echo ""
cnt = 1
for h in nodups_hamming():
  if cnt < 1691: cnt += 1; continue
  else: echo h; break

let strt = epochTime()
var rslt: BigInt
cnt = 1
for h in nodups_hamming():
  if cnt < 1000000: cnt += 1; continue
  else: rslt = h; break
let stop = epochTime()

echo rslt
echo "This last took ", (stop - strt)*1000, " milliseconds."
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
This last took 307.5404167175293 milliseconds.

Compiling with --gc:arc gives an execution time of 220-230 ms.

So, in both cases, the execution time is reduced which shows that a high percentage of the previous time was not used by BigInt calculations (as this code does exactly the same number of calculations) but rather by the memory allocatons/deallocations required for pure functional lazy algorithms. This may show that the current Nim version (1.4.2) is not so suitable for pure lazy functional algorithms, nor is it as terse as many modern functional languages (Haskell, OcaML, F#, Scala, etc.).

Much faster iterating version using logarithmic calculations

Still, much of the above time is used by BigInt calculations and still many heap allocations/deallocations, as BigInt's have an internal sequence to contain the infinite precision binary digits. The following code uses an internal logarithmic representation of the values rather than BigInt for the sorting comparisons and thus all mathematic operations required are just integer and floating point additions and comparison; as well, since these don't require heap space there is almost no allocation/deallocation at all for greatly increased speed:

# HammingsLogImp.nim
# compile with:  nim c -d:danger -t:-march=native -d:LTO --gc:arc HammingsLogImp

import bigints, std/math
from std/times import inMicroseconds
from std/monotimes import getMonoTime, `-`

type LogRep = (float64, uint32, uint32, uint32)

let one: LogRep = (0.0, 0'u32, 0'u32, 0'u32)

let lb2 = 1.0'f64; let lb3 = 3.0.log2; let lb5 = 5.0.log2
proc mul2(me: Logrep): Logrep {.inline.} =
  (me[0] + lb2, me[1] + 1, me[2], me[3])
proc mul3(me: Logrep): Logrep {.inline.} =
  (me[0] + lb3, me[1], me[2] + 1, me[3])
proc mul5(me: Logrep): Logrep {.inline.} =
  (me[0] + lb5, me[1], me[2], me[3] + 1)

proc lr2BigInt(lr: Logrep): BigInt = 
  proc xpnd(bs: uint, v: uint32): BigInt =
    result = initBigInt 1
    var bsm = initBigInt bs;
    var vm = v.uint
    while vm > 0:
      if (vm and 1) != 0: result *= bsm
      bsm *= bsm; vm = vm shr 1
  xpnd(2, lr[1]) * xpnd(3, lr[2]) * xpnd(5, lr[3])

iterator hammingsLogImp(): LogRep = 
  var
    s2 = newSeq[Logrep](1024) # give it size one so doubling size works
    s3 = newSeq[Logrep](1024) # reasonably sized
    s5 = one.mul5 # initBigInt 5
    mrg = one.mul3 # initBigInt 3
    s2hdi, s2tli, s3hdi, s3tli = 0
 
  yield one
  s2[0] = one.mul2; s3[0] = one.mul3
  while true:
    s2tli += 1
    if s2hdi + s2hdi >= s2tli: # move in-place to avoid allocation
      copyMem(addr(s2[0]), addr(s2[s2hdi]), sizeof(LogRep) * (s2tli - s2hdi))
      s2tli -= s2hdi; s2hdi = 0
    let cps2 = s2.len # move in-place to avoid allocation
    if s2tli >= cps2: s2.setLen(cps2 + cps2)
    var rsltp = addr(s2[s2hdi])
    if rsltp[][0] < mrg[0]: s2[s2tli] = rsltp[].mul2; s2hdi += 1; yield rsltp[]
    else:
      s3tli += 1
      if s3hdi + s3hdi >= s3tli: # move in-place to avoid allocation
        copyMem(addr(s3[0]), addr(s3[s3hdi]), sizeof(LogRep) * (s3tli - s3hdi))
        s3tli -= s3hdi; s3hdi = 0
      let cps3 = s3.len
      if s3tli >= cps3: s3.setLen(cps3 + cps3)
      s2[s2tli] = mrg.mul2; s3[s3tli] = mrg.mul3; s3hdi += 1
      let arsltp = addr(s3[s3hdi])
      let rslt = mrg
      if arsltp[][0] < s5[0]: mrg = arsltp[]
      else: mrg = s5; s5 = s5.mul5; s3hdi -= 1
      yield rslt

var cnt = 0
for h in hammingsLogImp():
  write stdout, h.lr2BigInt, " "; cnt += 1
  if cnt >= 20: break
echo ""
cnt = 0
for h in hammingsLogImp():
  cnt += 1
  if cnt >= 1691: echo h.lr2BigInt; break
 
let strt = getMonoTime()
var rslt: LogRep
cnt = 0
for h in hammingsLogImp():
  cnt += 1
  if cnt >= 1_000_000: rslt = h; break # """
let elpsd = (getMonoTime() - strt).inMicroseconds
 
let (_, x2, x3, x5) = rslt
writeLine stdout, "2^", x2, " + 3^", x3, " + 5^", x5
let lgrslt = (x2.float64 + x3.float64 * 3.0f64.log2 +
               x5.float64 * 5.0f64.log2) * 2.0f64.log10
let (whl, frac) = lgrslt.splitDecimal
echo "Approximately:  ", 10.0f64.pow(frac), "E+", whl.uint64
let brslt = rslt.lr2BigInt()
let s = brslt.to_string
let ls = s.len
echo "Number of digits:  ", ls
if ls <= 2000:
  for i in countup(0, ls - 1, 100):
    if i + 100 < ls: echo s[i .. i + 99]
    else: echo s[i .. ls - 1]
echo "This last took ", elpsd, " microseconds."
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 
2125764000
2^55 + 3^47 + 5^64
Approximately:  5.193127804483804E+83
Number of digits:  84
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
This last took 6004 microseconds.

The time as shown is for for compilation as in the second line of code; with these options, the billionth Hamming number can be calculated in about 7 seconds.

Faster alternate to the above using a ring buffer

As other language contributions refer to it, the above code is left in place; however, it seems that the amount of time spent "draining" the buffers by already-used values using copying as used in the above code can be eliminated by using the buffers as "ring buffers" by making the indices wrap around from the end of the buffers to the beginning and detecting when the buffer needs to be "grown" by when the next/last/tail index runs into the first/head index, and changing the "grow" logic a little so as to open up a hole between the next and first indexes by the size of the expansion once the buffer size has "grown". The code is as follows:

# HammingsLogDQ.nim
# compile with:  nim c -d:danger -t:-march=native -d:LTO --gc:arc HammingsImpLogQ

import bigints, std/math
from std/times import inMicroseconds
from std/monotimes import getMonoTime, `-`

type LogRep = (float64, uint32, uint32, uint32)

let one: LogRep = (0.0, 0'u32, 0'u32, 0'u32)

let lb2 = 1.0'f64; let lb3 = 3.0.log2; let lb5 = 5.0.log2
proc mul2(me: Logrep): Logrep {.inline.} =
  (me[0] + lb2, me[1] + 1, me[2], me[3])
proc mul3(me: Logrep): Logrep {.inline.} =
  (me[0] + lb3, me[1], me[2] + 1, me[3])
proc mul5(me: Logrep): Logrep {.inline.} =
  (me[0] + lb5, me[1], me[2], me[3] + 1)

proc lr2BigInt(lr: Logrep): BigInt = 
  proc xpnd(bs: uint, v: uint32): BigInt =
    result = initBigInt 1
    var bsm = initBigInt bs;
    var vm = v.uint
    while vm > 0:
      if (vm and 1) != 0: result *= bsm
      bsm *= bsm; vm = vm shr 1
  xpnd(2, lr[1]) * xpnd(3, lr[2]) * xpnd(5, lr[3])

proc `$`(lr: LogRep): string {.inline.} = $lr2BigInt(lr)

iterator hammingsLogQ(): LogRep =
  var s2msk, s3msk = 1024 
  var s2 = newSeq[LogRep] s2msk; var s3 = newSeq[LogRep] s3msk
  s2msk -= 1; s3msk -= 1; s2[0] = one; var  s2nxti = 1
  var s2hdi, s3hdi, s3nxti = 0
  var s5 = one.mul5; var mrg = one.mul3
  while true:
    let s2hdp = addr(s2[s2hdi])
    if s2hdp[][0] < mrg[0]:
      s2[s2nxti] = s2hdp[].mul2; s2hdi += 1; s2hdi = s2hdi and s2msk
      yield s2hdp[]
    else:
      s2[s2nxti] = mrg.mul2; s3[s3nxti] = mrg.mul3; yield mrg
      let s3hdp = addr(s3[s3hdi])
      if s3hdp[0] < s5[0]:
        mrg = s3hdp[]; s3hdi += 1; s3hdi = s3hdi and s3msk
      else: mrg = s5; s5 = s5.mul5
      s3nxti += 1; s3nxti = s3nxti and s3msk
      if s3nxti == s3hdi: # buffer full - expand...
        let sz = s3msk + 1; s3msk = sz + sz; s3.setLen(s3msk); s3msk -= 1
        if s3hdi == 0: s3nxti = sz
        else: # put extra space between next and head...
          copyMem(addr(s3[s3hdi + sz]), addr(s3[s3hdi]),
                  sizeof(LogRep) * (sz - s3hdi)); s3hdi += sz
    s2nxti += 1; s2nxti = s2nxti and s2msk
    if s2nxti == s2hdi: # buffer full - expand...
      let sz = s2msk + 1; s2msk = sz + sz; s2.setLen s2msk; s2msk -= 1
      if s2hdi == 0: s2nxti = sz # copy all in a single block...
      else: # make extra space between next and head...
        copyMem(addr(s2[s2hdi + sz]), addr(s2[s2hdi]),
                sizeof(LogRep) * (sz - s2hdi)); s2hdi += sz

# testing it...
var cnt = 0
for h in hammingsLogQ():
  write stdout, h, " "; cnt += 1
  if cnt >= 20: break
echo ""
cnt = 0
for h in hammingsLogQ():
  cnt += 1
  if cnt >= 1691: echo h; break
 
let strt = getMonoTime()
var rslt: LogRep
cnt = 0
for h in hammingsLogQ():
  cnt += 1
  if cnt >= 1_000_000: rslt = h; break # """
let elpsd = (getMonoTime() - strt).inMicroseconds
 
let (_, x2, x3, x5) = rslt
writeLine stdout, "2^", x2, " + 3^", x3, " + 5^", x5
let lgrslt = (x2.float64 + x3.float64 * 3.0f64.log2 +
               x5.float64 * 5.0f64.log2) * 2.0f64.log10
let (whl, frac) = lgrslt.splitDecimal
echo "Approximately:  ", 10.0f64.pow(frac), "E+", whl.uint64
let s = $rslt
let ls = s.len
echo "Number of digits:  ", ls
if ls <= 2000:
  for i in countup(0, ls - 1, 100):
    if i + 100 < ls: echo s[i .. i + 99]
    else: echo s[i .. ls - 1]
echo "This last took ", elpsd, " microseconds."
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 
2125764000
2^55 + 3^47 + 5^64
Approximately:  5.193127804483804E+83
Number of digits:  84
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
This last took 5044 microseconds.

As tested on an Intel i5-6500 (3.6 GHz single-threaded boosted), this is about a millisecond or about twenty percent faster than the version above, and can find the billionth Hamming number in about 4.5 seconds on this machine. The reason this is faster is mostly due to the elimination of the majority of the copy operations.

Extremely fast version inserting logarithms into the top error band

The above code is about as fast as one can go generating sequences; however, if one is willing to forego sequences and just calculate the nth Hamming number (repeatedly), then some reading on the relationship between the size of numbers to the sequence numbers is helpful (Wikipedia: Regular Number). One finds that there is a very distinct relationship and that it quite quickly reduces to quite a small error band proportional to the log of the output value for larger ranges. Thus, the following code just scans for logarithmic representations to insert into a sequence for this top error band and extracts the correct nth representation from that band. It reduces time complexity to O(n^(2/3)) from O(n) for the sequence versions, but even more amazingly, reduces memory requirements to O(n^(1/3)) from O(n^(2/3)) and thus makes it possible to calculate very large values in the sequence on common personal computers. The code is as follows:

Translation of: Rust
import bigints, math, algorithm, times

type TriVal = (uint32, uint32, uint32)

proc convertTrival2BigInt(tv: TriVal): BigInt =

  proc xpnd(bs: uint, v: uint32): BigInt =
    result = initBigInt 1
    var bsm = initBigInt bs
    var vm = v.uint
    while vm > 0:
      if (vm and 1) != 0: result *= bsm
      bsm = bsm * bsm     # bsm *= bsm causes a crash.
      vm = vm shr 1

  result = (2.xpnd  tv[0]) * (3.xpnd tv[1]) * (5.xpnd tv[2])

proc nth_hamming(n: uint64): TriVal =
  doAssert n > 0u64
  if n < 2: return (0'u32, 0'u32, 0'u32) # trivial case for 1

  type LogRep = (float64, uint32, uint32, uint32)

  let lb3 = 3.0'f64.log2; let lb5 = 5.0'f64.log2; let fctr = 6.0'f64*lb3*lb5
  let
    crctn = 30.0'f64.sqrt().log2 # log base 2 of sqrt 30
    lgest = (fctr * n.float64).pow(1.0'f64/3.0'f64) - crctn # from WP formula
    frctn = if n < 1000000000: 0.509'f64 else: 0.105'f64
    lghi = (fctr * (n.float64 + frctn * lgest)).pow(1.0'f64/3.0'f64) - crctn
    lglo = 2.0'f64 * lgest - lghi # and a lower limit of the upper "band"
  var count = 0'u64 # need to use extended precision, might go over
  var bnd = newSeq[LogRep](1) # give itone value so doubling size works
  let klmt = (lghi / lb5).uint32 + 1
  for k in 0 ..< klmt: # i, j, k values can be just u32 values
    let p = k.float64 * lb5; let jlmt = ((lghi - p) / lb3).uint32 + 1
    for j in 0 ..< jlmt:
      let q = p + j.float64 * lb3
      let ir = lghi - q; let lg = q + ir.floor # current log value (estimated)
      count += ir.uint64 + 1;
      if lg >= lglo: bnd.add((lg, ir.uint32, j, k))
  if n > count: raise newException(Exception, "nth_hamming: band high estimate is too low!")
  let ndx = (count - n).int
  if ndx >= bnd.len: raise newException(Exception, "nth_hamming: band low estimate is too high!")
  bnd.sort((proc (a, b: LogRep): int = a[0].cmp b[0]), SortOrder.Descending)

  let rslt = bnd[ndx]; (rslt[1], rslt[2], rslt[3])

for i in 1 .. 20:
  write stdout, nth_hamming(i.uint64).convertTrival2BigInt, " "
echo ""
echo nth_hamming(1691).convertTrival2BigInt

let strt = epochTime()
let rslt = nth_hamming(1_000_000'u64)
let stop = epochTime()

let (x2, x3, x5) = rslt
writeLine stdout, "2^", x2, " + 3^", x3, " + 5^", x5
let lgrslt = (x2.float64 + x3.float64 * 3.0f64.log2 +
               x5.float64 * 5.0f64.log2) * 2.0f64.log10
let (whl, frac) = lgrslt.splitDecimal
echo "Approximately:  ", 10.0f64.pow(frac), "E+", whl.uint64
let brslt = rslt.convertTrival2BigInt()
let s = brslt.to_string
let ls = s.len
echo "Number of digits:  ", ls
if ls <= 2000:
  for i in countup(0, ls - 1, 100):
    if i + 100 < ls: echo s[i .. i + 99]
    else: echo s[i .. ls - 1]

echo "This last took ", (stop - strt) * 1000, " milliseconds."

The output is the same as above except that the execution time is much too small to be measured. The billionth number in the sequence can be calculated in under 5 milliseconds, the trillionth in about 0.38 seconds. The (2^64 - 1)th value (18446744073709551615) cannot be calculated due to a slight overflow problem as it approaches that limit. However, this version gives inaccurate results much about the 1e13th Hamming number due to the log base two (double) approximate representation not having enough precision to accurately sort the values put into the error band array.

Alternate version with a greatly increased range without error

To solve the problem of inadequate precision in the double log base two representation, the following code uses a BigInt representation of the log value with about twice the significant bits, which is then sufficient to extend the usable range well beyond any reasonable requirement:

import bigints, math, algorithm, times

type TriVal = (uint32, uint32, uint32)

proc convertTrival2BigInt(tv: TriVal): BigInt =

  proc xpnd(bs: uint, v: uint32): BigInt =
    result = initBigInt 1
    var bsm = initBigInt bs
    var vm = v.uint
    while vm > 0:
      if (vm and 1) != 0: result *= bsm
      bsm = bsm * bsm   # bsm *= bsm causes a crash.
      vm = vm shr 1

  result = (2.xpnd  tv[0]) * (3.xpnd tv[1]) * (5.xpnd tv[2])

proc nth_hamming(n: uint64): TriVal =
  doAssert n > 0u64
  if n < 2: return (0'u32, 0'u32, 0'u32) # trivial case for 1

  type LogRep = (BigInt, uint32, uint32, uint32)

  let lb3 = 3.0'f64.log2; let lb5 = 5.0'f64.log2; let fctr = 6.0'f64*lb3*lb5
  let # manually produce the BigInt "limb's"!
    bglb2 = initBigInt @[0'u32, 0, 0, 16] # 1267650600228229401496703205376
    # 2009178665378409109047848542368
    bglb3 = initBigInt @[11608224'u32, 3177740794'u32, 1543611295, 25]
    # 2943393543170754072109742145491
    bglb5 = initBigInt @[1258143699'u32, 1189265298, 647893747, 37]
    crctn = 30.0'f64.sqrt().log2 # log base 2 of sqrt 30
    lgest = (fctr * n.float64).pow(1.0'f64/3.0'f64) - crctn # from WP formula
    frctn = if n < 1000000000: 0.509'f64 else: 0.105'f64
    lghi = (fctr * (n.float64 + frctn * lgest)).pow(1.0'f64/3.0'f64) - crctn
    lglo = 2.0'f64 * lgest - lghi # and a lower limit of the upper "band"
  var count = 0'u64 # need to use extended precision, might go over
  var bnd = newSeq[LogRep](1) # give it one value so doubling size works
  let klmt = (lghi / lb5).uint32 + 1
  for k in 0 ..< klmt: # i, j, k values can be just u32 values
    let p = k.float64 * lb5; let jlmt = ((lghi - p) / lb3).uint32 + 1
    for j in 0 ..< jlmt:
      let q = p + j.float64 * lb3
      let ir = lghi - q; let lg = q + ir.floor # current log value (estimated)
      count += ir.uint64 + 1;
      if lg >= lglo:
        let bglg = bglb2 * ir.int32 + bglb3 * j.int32 + bglb5 * k.int32
        bnd.add((bglg, ir.uint32, j, k))
  if n > count: raise newException(Exception, "nth_hamming: band high estimate is too low!")
  let ndx = (count - n).int
  if ndx >= bnd.len: raise newException(Exception, "nth_hamming: band low estimate is too high!")
  bnd.sort((proc (a, b: LogRep): int = (a[0].cmp b[0]).int), SortOrder.Descending)

  let rslt = bnd[ndx]; (rslt[1], rslt[2], rslt[3])

for i in 1 .. 20:
  write stdout, nth_hamming(i.uint64).convertTrival2BigInt, " "
echo ""
echo nth_hamming(1691).convertTrival2BigInt

let strt = epochTime()
let rslt = nth_hamming(1_000_000'u64)
let stop = epochTime()

let (x2, x3, x5) = rslt
writeLine stdout, "2^", x2, " + 3^", x3, " + 5^", x5
let lgrslt = (x2.float64 + x3.float64 * 3.0f64.log2 +
               x5.float64 * 5.0f64.log2) * 2.0f64.log10
let (whl, frac) = lgrslt.splitDecimal
echo "Approximately:  ", 10.0f64.pow(frac), "E+", whl.uint64
let brslt = rslt.convertTrival2BigInt()
let s = brslt.to_string
let ls = s.len
echo "Number of digits:  ", ls
if ls <= 2000:
  for i in countup(0, ls - 1, 100):
    if i + 100 < ls: echo s[i .. i + 99]
    else: echo s[i .. ls - 1]

echo "This last took ", (stop - strt) * 1000, " milliseconds."

The above code has the same output as before and doesn't take an appreciable amount time different to execute; it can produce the trillionth Hamming number in about 0.35 seconds and the thousand trillionth (which is now possible without error) in about 34.8 seconds. Thus, it successfully extends the usable range of the algorithm to near the maximum expressible 64 bit number in a few hours of execution time on a modern desktop computer although the (2^64 - 1)th Hamming number can't be found due to the restrictions of the expressible range limit in sizing of the required error band.

OCaml

A simple implementation using an integer Set as a priority queue. The semantics of the standard library Set provide a minimum element and prevent duplicate entries. min_elt and add are O(log N).

module ISet = Set.Make(struct type t = int let compare=compare end)

let pq = ref (ISet.singleton 1)

let next () =
  let m = ISet.min_elt !pq in
  pq := ISet.(remove m !pq  |> add (2*m) |> add (3*m) |> add (5*m));
  m

let () =

  print_string "The first 20 are: ";

  for i = 1 to 20
  do
    Printf.printf "%d " (next ())
  done;

  for i = 21 to 1690
  do
    ignore (next ())
  done;

  Printf.printf "\nThe 1691st is %d\n" (next ());

Output:

The first 20 are: 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36

The 1691st is 2125764000

Arbitrary precision

An arbitrary precision version for the one millionth number. Compile with eg: ocamlopt -o hamming.exe nums.cmxa hamming.ml

open Big_int

module APSet = Set.Make(
  struct
    type t = big_int
    let compare = compare_big_int
  end)

let pq = ref (APSet.singleton (big_int_of_int 1))

let next () =
  let m = APSet.min_elt !pq in
  let ( * ) = mult_int_big_int in
  pq := APSet.(remove m !pq  |> add (2*m) |> add (3*m) |> add (5*m));
  m

let () =
  let n = 1_000_000 in

  for i = 1 to (n-1)
  do
    ignore (next ())
  done;

  Printf.printf "\nThe %dth is %s\n" n (string_of_big_int (next ()));

Output:

The 1000000th is 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Oz

Lazy Version

Translation of: Haskell
declare
  fun lazy {HammingFun}
     1|{FoldL1 [{MultHamming 2} {MultHamming 3} {MultHamming 5}] LMerge}
  end

  Hamming = {HammingFun}

  fun {MultHamming N}
     {LMap Hamming fun {$ X} N*X end}
  end

  fun lazy {LMap Xs F}
     case Xs
     of nil  then nil
     [] X|Xr then {F X}|{LMap Xr F}
     end
  end

  fun lazy {LMerge Xs=X|Xr Ys=Y|Yr}
     if     X < Y then X|{LMerge Xr Ys}
     elseif X > Y then Y|{LMerge Xs Yr}
     else              X|{LMerge Xr Yr}
     end
  end

  fun {FoldL1 X|Xr F}
     {FoldL Xr F X}
  end
in
  {ForAll {List.take Hamming 20} System.showInfo}
  {System.showInfo {Nth Hamming 1690}}
  {System.showInfo {Nth Hamming 1000000}}


Strict Version

The strict version uses iterators and a priority queue. Note that it can calculate other variations of the hamming numbers too. By changing K, it will calculate the p(K)-smooth numbers. (E.g. K = 3, it will use the first three primes 2,3 and 5, thus resulting in the 5-smooth numbers, see [2])

functor
import
	Application
	System
define

class Multiplier
	attr 	lst
		factor
		current

	meth init(Factor Lst)
		lst	:= Lst
		factor	:= Factor
		{self next}
	end
	meth next
		local 
			A
			AS
		in
			A|AS = @lst
			current := A*@factor
			lst := AS
		end
	end
	meth peek(?X)
		X = @current
	end

	meth dump
		{System.showInfo "DUMP"}
		{System.showInfo "Factor: "#@factor}
		{System.showInfo "current: "#@current}
	end
end

% a priority queue of multipliers. The one which currently holds the smallest value is put on front
class PriorityQueue
	attr	mults
			current	% for duplicate detection

	meth init(Mults)
		mults	:= Mults
		current	:= 0
	end

	meth insert(Mult)
		local
			fun {Insert M Lst}
				local
					Av
					Mv
				in
					case Lst of
						nil	then M|Lst
					[] A|AS	then 	{A peek(Av)}
										{M peek(Mv)}
										if	Av < Mv then
											A|{Insert M AS}
										else	M|A|AS
										end
					end
				end
			end
		in
			mults	:= {Insert Mult @mults}
		end
	end

	meth next(Tail NextTail)
		local
			M
			Ms
			X
			Curr
		in
			M|Ms	= @mults
			{M peek(X)}	% gets value of lowest iterator
			Curr	= @current
			if Curr == X then
				skip
			else
				Tail	= X|NextTail	% if we found a new value: append
			end
			{M next}
			mults	:= Ms
			{self insert(M)}
			if Curr == X then
				{self next(Tail NextTail)}
			else
				current := X
			end
		end
	end

end		


local

	% Sieve of erasthothenes, adapted from http://rosettacode.org/wiki/Sieve_of_Eratosthenes#Oz
	fun {Sieve N}
		 S = {Array.new 2 N true}
		 M = {Float.toInt {Sqrt {Int.toFloat N}}}
	in
		 for I in 2..M do
	if S.I then
		 for J in I*I..N;I do
				S.J := false
		 end
	end
		 end
		 S
	end
 
	fun {Primes N}
		 S = {Sieve N}
	in
		 for I in 2..N collect:C do
	if S.I then {C I} end
		 end
	end


	% help method to extract args
	proc {GetNK ArgList N K}
		case ArgList of
		A|B|_ then
			N={StringToInt A}
			K={StringToInt B}
		end
	end


	proc {Generate N PriorQ Tail}
	local
		NewTail
	in
		if N == 0 then
			Tail = nil
		else
			{PriorQ next(Tail NewTail)}
			{Generate (N-1) PriorQ NewTail}
		end
	end
	end

	K = 3
	PrimeFactors
	Lst
	Tail
in
	ArgList = {Application.getArgs plain}
	Lst	= 1|Tail
	PrimeFactors	= {List.take {Primes K*K} K}
	Mults	= {List.map PrimeFactors fun {$ A} {New Multiplier init(A Lst) } end}
	PriorQ	= {New PriorityQueue init(Mults)}
	{Generate 20 PriorQ Tail}
	{ForAll Lst System.showInfo}
	{Application.exit 0}
end
end

Strict version made by pietervdvn; do what you want with the code.

PARI/GP

This is a basic implementation; finding the millionth term requires 1 second and 54 MB. Much better algorithms exist.

Hupto(n)={
  my(r=Vec([1],n),v=primes(3),[v1,v2,v3]=v,i=1,j=1,k=1,t);
  for(m=2,n,
    r[m]=t=min(v1,min(v2,v3));
    if(v1 == t, v1 = v[1] * r[i++]);
    if(v2 == t, v2 = v[2] * r[j++]);
    if(v3 == t, v3 = v[3] * r[k++]);
  );
  r
};
H(n)=Hupto(n)[n];

Hupto(20)
H(1691)
H(10^6)
Output:
%1 = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 36]
%2 = 2125764000
%3 = 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Pascal

Simple brute force til 2^32-1.I was astonished by the speed.The inner loop is taken 2^32 -1 times.DIV by constant is optimized to Mul and shift. Using FPC_64 3.1.1, i4330 3.5 Ghz

program HammNumb;
{$IFDEF FPC}
  {$MODE DELPHI}
  {$OPTIMIZATION ON}
{$ELSE}
  {$APPTYPE CONSOLE}
{$ENDIF}
{
type
  NativeUInt = longWord;
}
var
  pot   : array[0..2] of NativeUInt;

function NextHammNumb(n:NativeUInt):NativeUInt;
var
  q,p,nr : NativeUInt;
begin
  repeat
    nr := n+1;
    n := nr;

    p := 0;
    while NOT(ODD(nr)) do
    begin
      inc(p);
      nr := nr div 2;
    end;
    Pot[0]:= p;

    p := 0;
    q := nr div 3;
    while q*3=nr do
    Begin
      inc(P);
      nr := q;
      q := nr div 3;
    end;
    Pot[1] := p;

    p := 0;
    q := nr div 5;
    while q*5=nr do
    Begin
      inc(P);
      nr := q;
      q := nr div 5;
    end;
    Pot[2] := p;

  until nr = 1;
  result:= n;
end;

procedure Check;
var
  i,n: NativeUint;
begin
  n := 1;
  for i := 1 to 20 do
  begin
    n := NextHammNumb(n);
    write(n,' ');
  end;
  writeln;
  writeln;
  n := 1;
  for i := 1 to 1690 do
    n := NextHammNumb(n);
  writeln('No ',i:4,' | ',n,' = 2^',Pot[0],' 3^',Pot[1],' 5^',Pot[2]);
end;

Begin
  Check;
End.

Output

2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 40 

No 1690 | 2125764000 = 2^5 3^12 5^3

real    0m17.328s
user    0m17.310s

Alternate Using Non-Duplicates Logarithmic Estimation Ordering

The above is not a true sequence of Hamming numbers as it doesn't generate an iteration or enumeration of the numbers where each new value is generated from the accumulated state of all the generated numbers up to that point, but rather regenerates all the previous values very inefficiently for each new value, and thus does not have a linear execution complexity with number of generated values. Much more elegant solutions are those using functional programming paradigms, but as Pascal is by no means a functional language, lacking many of the requirements of functional programming such as closure functions to be functional and being difficult (although not impossible) to emulate those functions using classes/objects, the following code implements an imperative version of the non-duplicating Hamming sequence which also saves both time and space in not processing the duplicates (for instance, with two times three already accounted for, there is no need to process three times two); as well, since there is no standard "infinite" precision integer library for Pascal so that numbers larger than 64-bit can't easily be handled, the following code uses the "triplet" method and does the sorting based on a logarithmic estimation of the multiples:

{$OPTIMIZATION LEVEL4}
program Hammings(output);

{$mode objfpc}  
uses Math, SysUtils;

const
  lb22 : Double = 1.0; (* log base 2 of 2 *)
  lb23 : Double = 1.58496250072115618147; (* log base 2 of 3 *)
  lb25 : Double = 2.32192809488736234781; (* log base 2 of 5 *)

type
  TLogRep = record
    lr : Double;
    x2, x3, x5 : Word;
  end;

const oneLogRep : TLogRep = (lr:0.0; x2:0; x3:0; x5:0);

function LogRepMult2(lr : TLogRep) : TLogRep;
begin
  Result := lr;
  Result.lr := lr.lr + lb22;
  Result.x2 := lr.x2 + 1
end;

function LogRepMult3(lr : TLogRep) : TLogRep;
begin
  Result := lr;
  Result.lr := lr.lr + lb23;
  Result.x3 := lr.x3 + 1
end;

function LogRepMult5(lr : TLogRep) : TLogRep;
begin
  Result := lr;
  Result.lr := lr.lr + lb25;
  Result.x5 := lr.x5 + 1
end;

function LogRep2QWord(lr : TLogRep) : QWord;
function xpnd(x : Word; m : QWord) : QWord;
var mlt : QWord;
begin
  mlt := m;
  Result := 1;
  while x > 0 do
  begin
    if x and 1 > 0 then Result := Result * mlt;
    mlt := mlt * mlt; x := x shr 1
  end
end;
begin
  Result := xpnd(lr.x2, 2) * xpnd(lr.x3, 3) * xpnd(lr.x5, 5)
end;

function LogRep2String(lr : TLogRep) : AnsiString;
type TBI = array of LongWord;
     TDigitStr = String[1];
function mul2(bi : TBI) : TBI;
var cry : QWord;
    i : Integer;
begin
  cry := 0;
  for i := 0 to High(bi) do
  begin
    cry := (QWord(bi[i]) shl 1) + cry; bi[i] := cry; cry := cry shr 32
  end;
  if cry <> 0 then
  begin
    SetLength(bi, Length(bi) + 1); bi[High(bi)] := cry
  end;
  Result := bi
end;
function add(bia : TBI; bib : TBI) : TBI;
var cry : QWord;
    i : Integer;
begin
  cry := 0;
  for i := 0 to High(bia) do
  begin
    cry := QWord(bia[i]) + QWord(bib[i]) + cry;
    bia[i] := cry; cry := cry shr 32
  end;
  if cry <> 0 then
  begin
    SetLength(bia, Length(bia) + 1); bia[High(bia)] := cry
  end;
  Result := bia
end;
function div10(bi : TBI) : TDigitStr;
var brw : QWord;
    i : Integer;
begin
  brw := 0;
  for i := High(bi) downto 0 do
  begin
    brw := (brw shl 32) + QWord(bi[i]);
    bi[i] := brw div 10; brw := brw - QWord(bi[i]) * 10
  end;
  Result := IntToStr(brw)
end;
var v : Word;
    xpnd, xpndt : TBI;
begin
  Result := '';
  SetLength(xpnd, 1); xpnd[0] := 1;
  for v := lr.x2 downto 1 do xpnd := mul2(xpnd);
  for v := lr.x3 downto 1 do
  begin
    xpndt := Copy(xpnd, 0, Length(xpnd));
    xpnd := mul2(xpnd); xpnd := add(xpnd, xpndt)
  end;
  for v := lr.x5 downto 1 do
  begin
    xpndt := Copy(xpnd, 0, Length(xpnd)); xpnd := mul2(xpnd);
    xpnd := mul2(xpnd); xpnd := add(xpnd, xpndt)
  end;
  while Length(xpnd) > 0 do
  begin
    Result := div10(xpnd) + Result;
    if xpnd[High(xpnd)] <= 0 then SetLength(xpnd, Length(xpnd) - 1)
  end
end;

type
  TLogReps = array of TLogRep;
  THammings = class
  private
    FCurrent : TLogRep;
    FBA, FMA : TLogReps;
    Fnxt2, Fnxt3, Fnxt5, Fmrg35 : TLogRep;
    FBb, FBe, FMb, FMe : Integer;
  public
    constructor Create;
    function GetEnumerator : THammings;
    function MoveNext : Boolean;
    property Current : TLogRep read FCurrent;
  end;

constructor THammings.Create;
begin
  inherited Create;
  FCurrent := oneLogRep; FCurrent.lr := -1.0;
  SetLength(FBA, 4); SetLength(FMA, 4);
  Fnxt5 := LogRepMult5(oneLogRep);
  Fmrg35 := LogRepMult3(oneLogRep);
  Fnxt3 := LogRepMult3(Fmrg35);
  Fnxt2 := LogRepMult2(oneLogRep);
  FBb := 0; FBe := 0; FMb := 0; FMe := 0
end;

function THammings.GetEnumerator : THammings;
begin
  Result := Self
end;

function THammings.MoveNext : Boolean;
var blen, mlen, i, j : Integer;
begin
  if FCurrent.lr < 0.0 then FCurrent.lr := 0.0 else
  begin
    blen := Length(FBA);
    if FBb >= blen shr 1 then
    begin
      i := 0;
      for j := FBb to FBe - 1 do
      begin
        FBA[i] := FBA[j]; Inc(i)
      end;
      FBe := FBe - FBb; FBb := 0
    end;
    if FBe >= blen then SetLength(FBA, blen shl 1);
    if Fnxt2.lr < Fmrg35.lr then
    begin
      FCurrent := Fnxt2; FBA[FBe] := FCurrent;
      Fnxt2 := LogRepMult2(FBA[FBb]); Inc(FBb)
    end
    else
    begin
      mlen := Length(FMA);
      if FMb >= mlen shr 1 then
      begin
        i := 0;
        for j := FMb to FMe - 1 do
        begin
          FMA[i] := FMA[j]; Inc(i)
        end;
        FMe := FMe - FMb; FMb := 0
      end;
      if FMe >= mlen then SetLength(FMA, mlen shl 1);
      if Fmrg35.lr < Fnxt5.lr then
      begin
        FCurrent := Fmrg35; FMA[FMe] := FCurrent;
        Fnxt3 := LogRepMult3(FMA[FMb]); Inc(FMb)
      end
      else
      begin
        FCurrent := Fnxt5; FMA[FMe] := FCurrent;
        Fnxt5 := LogRepMult5(Fnxt5)
      end;
      if Fnxt3.lr < Fnxt5.lr then Fmrg35 := Fnxt3 else Fmrg35 := Fnxt5;
      FBA[FBe] := FCurrent; Inc(FMe)
    end;
    Inc(FBe)
  end;
  Result := True
end;

var elpsd : QWord;
    count : Integer;
    h : TLogRep;

begin
  write('The first 20 Hamming numbers are: ');
  count := 0;
  for h in THammings.Create do
  begin
    Inc(count);
    if count > 20 then break;
    write(' ', LogRep2QWord(h));
  end;
  writeln('.');
  count := 1;
  for h in THammings.Create do
  begin
    Inc(count);
    if count > 1691 then break;
  end;
  writeln('The 1691st Hamming number is ', LogRep2QWord(h), '.');
  elpsd := GetTickCount64;
  count := 1;
  for h in THammings.Create do
  begin
    Inc(count);
    if count > 1000000 then break;
  end;
  elpsd := GetTickCount64 - elpsd;
  writeln('The millionth Hamming number is approximately ', 2.0**h.lr, '.');
  write('The millionth Hamming triplet is ');
  writeln('2^', h.x2, ' * 3^', h.x3, ' * 5^', h.x5, '.');
  writeln('The millionth Hamming number is ', LogRep2String(h), '.');
  writeln('This last took ', elpsd, ' milliseconds.')
end.
Output:
The first 20 Hamming numbers are:  1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36.
The 1691st Hamming number is 2125764000.
The millionth Hamming number is approximately  5.19312780448555124533E+0083.
The millionth Hamming triplet is 2^55 * 3^47 * 5^64.
The millionth Hamming number is 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000.
This last took 13 milliseconds.

The above was as run on a modern Intel CPU at 4 GHz.

Note that as the millionth Hamming number has 84 decimal digits and the largest standard 64-bit value that is easily expressed in standard Pascal is only about 19 decimal digits, enough of an "infinite" precision integer library has been implemented to be able to convert the produced "triplet" into the resulting millionth value; this does not need to be of maximum efficiency as it is used only for the final answer.

a fast alternative

The first Pascal code is much slower.

The following is easy to use for smooth-3 .. smooth-37.

Big(O) is nearly linear to sub-linear . 1E7-> 0.028s => x10 =>1e8 ->0.273s => x1000 => 100'200'300'400 ~ 1e11 35.907s // estimated 270 s! This depends extreme on sorting speed.

http://rosettacode.org/wiki/Hamming_numbers#Direct_calculation_through_triples_enumeration is head to head, but still faster for very big numbers >1e8 (10^8: 4 MB 0.27 sec)

100'200'300'400 calculates in 8.33 s

For fpc 3.1.1_64 linux on 3.5 Ghz i4330, depends on 64-Bit by a factor of 4 slower on 32-Bit

/* For 12 primes "smooth-37" 1e8 it takes 02.807 s */

I collect only the factors between p^n and p^(n+1), in a recursive way in different lists

5 is a list consisting only 5^? = 1 factor

3 is a sorted list 3^?..3^?+1 and inserted values of 5

2 is a sorted list 2^?..2^?+1 and inserted values of list 3

Changing sizeOf(tElem) to 32 {maxPrimFakCnt = 3+8} instead of 16 ( x2) {maxPrimFakCnt = 3} results in increasing the runtime by x4 ( 2^2 )

program hammNumb;
{$IFDEF FPC}
   {$MODE DELPHI}
   {$OPTIMIZATION ON,ALL}
   {$ALIGN 16}
{$ELSE}
  {$APPTYPE CONSOLE}
{$ENDIF}
uses
  sysutils;
const
  maxPrimFakCnt = 3;//3 or 3+8 if tNumber= double, else -1 for extended to keep data aligned
  minElemCnt = 10;
type
  tPrimList = array of NativeUint;
  tnumber = double;
  tpNumber= ^tnumber;
  tElem = record
             n   : tnumber;//ln(prime[0]^Pots[0]*...
             Pots: array[0..maxPrimFakCnt] of word;
           end;
  tpElem  = ^tElem;
  tElems  = array of tElem;
  tElemArr  = array [0..0] of tElem;
  tpElemArr  = ^tElemArr;

  tpFaktorRec = ^tFaktorRec;
  tFaktorRec = record
                 frElems  : tElems;
                 frInsElems: tElems;
                 frAktIdx : NativeUint;
                 frMaxIdx : NativeUint;
                 frPotNo  : NativeUint;
                 frActPot : NativeUint;
                 frNextFr : tpFaktorRec;
                 frActNumb: tElem;
                 frLnPrime: tnumber;
               end;
  tArrFR = array of tFaktorRec;

var
  Pl : tPrimList;
  ActIndex  : NativeUint;
  ArrInsert : tElems;

procedure PlInit(n: integer);
const
 cPl : array[0..11] of byte=(2,3,5,7,11,13,17,19,23,29,31,37);
var
  i : integer;
Begin
  IF n>High(cPl)+1 then
     n := High(cPl)
  else
      IF n < 0 then
         n := 1;
  setlength(Pl,n);
  dec(n);
  For i := 0 to n do
    Pl[i] := cPl[i];
end;

procedure AusgabeElem(pElem: tElem);
var
  i : integer;
Begin
  with pElem do
  Begin
    IF n < 23 then
    begin
      write(round(exp(n)),' ');
      if n < ln(100)then
         EXIT;
    end
    else
      write('ln ',n:13:7);
    For i := 0 to maxPrimFakCnt-1 do
      write(' ',PL[i]:2,'^',Pots[i]);
  end;
  writeln
end;

//LoE == List of Elements
function LoEGetNextNumber(pFR :tpFaktorRec):tElem;forward;

procedure LoECreate(const Pl: tPrimList;var FA:tArrFR);
var
  i : integer;
Begin
  setlength(ArrInsert,100);
  setlength(FA,Length(PL));
  For i := 0 to High(PL) do
    with FA[i] do
    Begin
      //automatic zeroing
      IF i < High(PL) then
      Begin
        setlength(frElems,minElemCnt);
        setlength(frInsElems,minElemCnt);
        frNextFr := @FA[i+1]
      end
      else
      Begin
        setlength(frElems,2);
        setlength(frInsElems,0);
        frNextFr := NIL;
      end;
      frPotNo  := i;
      frLnPrime:= ln(PL[i]);
      frMaxIdx := 0;
      frAktIdx := 0;
      frActPot := 1;
      With frElems[0] do
      Begin
        n := frLnPrime;
        Pots[i]:= 1;
      end;
      frActNumb := frElems[0];
  end;
end;


procedure LoEFree(var FA:tArrFR);
var
  i : integer;
Begin
  For i := High(FA) downto Low(FA) do
    setlength(FA[i].frElems,0);
  setLength(FA,0);
end;

function LoEGetActElem(pFr:tpFaktorRec):tElem;
Begin
  with pFr^ do
    result := frElems[frAktIdx];
end;

function LoEGetActLstNumber(pFr:tpFaktorRec):tpNumber;
Begin
  with pFr^ do
    result := @frElems[frAktIdx].n;
end;

procedure LoEIncInsArr(var a:tElems);
Begin
  setlength(a,Length(a)*8 div 5);
end;

procedure LoEIncreaseElems(pFr:tpFaktorRec;minCnt:NativeUint);
var
  newLen: NativeUint;
Begin
  with pFR^ do
  begin
    newLen := Length(frElems);
    minCnt := minCnt+frMaxIdx;
    repeat
      newLen := newLen*8 div 5 +1;
    until newLen > minCnt;
    setlength(frElems,newLen);
  end;
end;

procedure LoEInsertNext(pFr:tpFaktorRec;Limit:tnumber);
var
  pNum : tpNumber;
  pElems : tpElemArr;
  cnt,i,u : NativeInt;
begin
  with pFr^ do
  Begin
    //collect numbers of heigher primes
    cnt := 0;
    pNum := LoEGetActLstNumber(frNextFr);
    while Limit > pNum^ do
    Begin
      frInsElems[cnt] := LoEGetNextNumber(frNextFr);
//   writeln( 'Ins ',frInsElems[cnt].n:10:8,' < ',pNum^:10:8);

      inc(cnt);
      IF cnt > High(frInsElems) then
        LoEIncInsArr(frInsElems);
      pNum := LoEGetActLstNumber(frNextFr);
    end;

    if cnt = 0 then
     EXIT;

    i := frMaxIdx;
    u := frMaxIdx+cnt+1;

    IF u > High(frElems) then
      LoEIncreaseElems(pFr,cnt);

    IF frPotNo =  0 then
      inc(ActIndex,u);
    //Merge
    pElems := @frElems[0];
    dec(cnt);
    dec(u);
    frMaxIdx:= u;
    repeat
// writeln(i:10,cnt:10,u:10); writeln( pElems^[i].n:10:8,' < ',frInsElems[cnt].n:10:8);
      IF pElems^[i].n < frInsElems[cnt].n then
      Begin
        pElems^[u] := frInsElems[cnt];
        dec(cnt);
      end
      else
      Begin
        pElems^[u] := pElems^[i];
        dec(i);
      end;
      dec(u);
    until (i<0) or (cnt<0);
    IF i < 0 then
      For u := cnt downto 0 do
        pElems^[u] := frInsElems[u];

  end;
end;

procedure LoEAppendNext(pFr:tpFaktorRec;Limit:tnumber);
var
  pNum : tpNumber;
  pElems : tpElemArr;
  i : NativeInt;
begin
  with pFr^ do
  Begin
    i := frMaxIdx+1;
    pElems := @frElems[0];
    pNum := LoEGetActLstNumber(frNextFr);
    while Limit > pNum^ do
    Begin
      IF i > High(frElems) then
      Begin
        LoEIncreaseElems(pFr,10);
        pElems := @frElems[0];
      end;
      pElems^[i] := LoEGetNextNumber(frNextFr);
      inc(i);
      pNum := LoEGetActLstNumber(frNextFr);
    end;
    inc(ActIndex,i);
    frMaxIdx:= i-1;
  end;
end;

procedure LoENextList(pFr:tpFaktorRec);
var
  pElems : tpElemArr;
  j : NativeUint;
begin
  with pFR^ do
  Begin
    //increase Elements by factor
    pElems := @frElems[0];
    for j := frMaxIdx Downto 0 do
      with pElems^[j] do
      Begin
        n := n+frLnPrime;
        inc(Pots[frPotNo]);
      end;
    //x^j -> x^(j+1)
    j := frActPot+1;
    with frActNumb do
    begin
      n:= j*frLnPrime;
      Pots[frPotNo]:= j;
    end;
    frActPot := j;
    //if something follows
    IF frNextFr <> NIL then
      LoEInsertNext(pFR,frActNumb.n);
    frAktIdx := 0;
  end;
end;

function LoEGetNextNumber(pFR :tpFaktorRec):tElem;
Begin
  with pFr^ do
  Begin
    result := frElems[frAktIdx];
    inc(frAktIdx);
    IF frMaxIdx < frAktIdx then
      LoENextList(pFr);
  end;
end;

procedure LoEGetNumber(pFR :tpFaktorRec;no:NativeUint);
Begin
  dec(no);
  while ActIndex < no do
    LoENextList(pFR);
  with pFr^ do
    frAktIdx := (no-(ActIndex-frMaxIdx)-1);

end;

var
  T1,T0: tDateTime;
  FA: tArrFR;
  i : integer;
Begin
  PlInit(3);// 3 -> 2,3,5
  LoECreate(Pl,FA);
  i := 1;
  i := 1;
  T0 := time;
  write('First 20 :');
  For i := 1 to 20 do
    AusgabeElem(LoEGetNextNumber(@FA[0]));
  writeln;
  write(' 1691.th :');
  LoEGetNumber(@FA[0],1691);
  AusgabeElem(LoEGetNextNumber(@FA[0]));

  LoEGetNumber(@FA[0],1000*1000);
  AusgabeElem(LoEGetNextNumber(@FA[0]));
  T1 := time;
  Writeln('Timed 1,000,000 in ',FormatDateTime('HH:NN:SS.ZZZ',T1-T0));

  LoEGetNumber(@FA[0],1000*1000*1000);  
  AusgabeElem(LoEGetNextNumber(@FA[0]));
  Writeln('Timed 1,000,000,000 in ',FormatDateTime('HH:NN:SS.ZZZ',time-T1));

  Writeln('Actual Index ',ActIndex );
  AusgabeElem(LoEGetNextNumber(@FA[0]));
  For i := 0 to High(FA) do
    writeln(pL[i]:2,
     ' elemcount  ',FA[i].frMaxIdx+1:7,' out of',length(FA[i].frElems):7);
  LoEFree(FA);
End.
@ TIO.RUN:
First 20 :2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 40 
 1691.th :2125764000   2^5  3^12  5^3
ln   192.7618989  2^55  3^47  5^64
Timed 1,000,000 in 00:00:00.003
ln  1942.9063722  2^1334  3^335  5^404
Timed 1,000,000,000 in 00:00:04.456
Actual Index 1001046828
ln  1942.9063727  2^761  3^572  5^489
 2 elemcount  1069703 out of1426063
 3 elemcount     1209 out of   1236
 5 elemcount        1 out of      2

...
change zu use 12 primes [2..37] ( 32 bit ) -> 2.2x runtime  over using 3 primes 
Begin
  PlInit(12)

ln    40.8834947  2^14  3^0  5^6  7^4 11^2 13^1 17^0 19^1 23^0 29^0 31^1 37^0
Actual Index  100269652
Timed 100000000 in 00:00:02.807

 2 elemcount   14322779 out of 14953361
 3 elemcount    3387290 out of  3650722
 5 elemcount     891236 out of   891289
 7 elemcount     289599 out of   348159
11 elemcount      92240 out of   135999
13 elemcount      28272 out of    33202
17 elemcount       9394 out of    12969
19 elemcount       2639 out of     3165
23 elemcount        676 out of      772
29 elemcount        119 out of      188
31 elemcount         15 out of       17
37 elemcount          1 out of        2

@home:
//tested til 1E12 with 4.4 Ghz 5600G Free Pascal Compiler version 3.2.2-[2022/11/22] for x86_64
Timed 1,000,000,000,000 in  57:53.015
ln 19444.3672890  2^1126  3^16930  5^40  -> see Haskell-Version [https://ideone.com/RnAh5X]
Actual Index 1000075683108
ln 19444.3672890  2^8295  3^2426  5^6853
 2 elemcount  106935365 out of 156797362
 3 elemcount      12083 out of     12969
 5 elemcount          1 out of         2
user    57m51.015s << 
sys     0m1.616s

Perl

use strict;
use warnings;
use List::Util 'min';

# If you want the large output, uncomment either the one line
# marked (1) or the two lines marked (2)
#use Math::GMP qw/:constant/;        # (1) uncomment this to use Math::GMP
#use Math::GMPz;                     # (2) uncomment this plus later line for Math::GMPz

sub ham_gen {
    my @s = ([1], [1], [1]);
    my @m = (2, 3, 5);
    #@m = map { Math::GMPz->new($_) } @m;     # (2) uncomment for Math::GMPz

    return sub {
	my $n = min($s[0][0], $s[1][0], $s[2][0]);
	for (0 .. 2) {
	     shift @{$s[$_]} if $s[$_][0] == $n;
	     push @{$s[$_]}, $n * $m[$_]
	}
	return $n
    }
}

my $h = ham_gen;
my $i = 0;
++$i, print $h->(), " " until $i > 20;
print "...\n";

++$i, $h->() until $i == 1690;
print ++$i, "-th: ", $h->(), "\n";

# You will need to pick one of the bigint choices
#++$i, $h->() until $i == 999999;
#print ++$i, "-th: ", $h->(), "\n";
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 40 ...
1691-th: 2125764000
1000000-th: 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

The core module bigint (Math::BigInt) is very slow, even with the GMP backend, and not supported here. Alternatives shown are Math::GMP and Math::GMPz (about 4x faster).

Phix

Translation of: AWK
Library: Phix/mpfr

standard and gmp versions

with javascript_semantics 
function hamming(integer N)
sequence h = repeat(1,N)
atom x2 = 2, x3 = 3, x5 = 5, hn
integer i = 1, j = 1, k = 1
    for n=2 to N do
        hn = min(x2,min(x3,x5))
        h[n] = hn
        if hn==x2 then i += 1 x2 = 2*h[i] end if
        if hn==x3 then j += 1 x3 = 3*h[j] end if
        if hn==x5 then k += 1 x5 = 5*h[k] end if
    end for
    return h[N]
end function
 
include builtins\mpfr.e
 
function mpz_hamming(integer N)
sequence h = mpz_inits(N,1)
mpz x2 = mpz_init(2),
    x3 = mpz_init(3),
    x5 = mpz_init(5),
    hn = mpz_init()
integer i = 1, j = 1, k = 1
    for n=2 to N do
        mpz_set(hn,mpz_min({x2,x3,x5}))
        mpz_set(h[n],hn)
        if mpz_cmp(hn,x2)=0 then i += 1 mpz_mul_si(x2,h[i],2) end if
        if mpz_cmp(hn,x3)=0 then j += 1 mpz_mul_si(x3,h[j],3) end if
        if mpz_cmp(hn,x5)=0 then k += 1 mpz_mul_si(x5,h[k],5) end if
    end for
    return h[N]
end function
 
sequence s = {}
for i=1 to 20 do
    s = append(s,hamming(i))
end for
?s
printf(1,"%d\n",hamming(1691))
printf(1,"%d (wrong!)\n",hamming(1000000)) --(the hn==x2 etc fail, so multiplies are all wrong)
 
printf(1,"%s\n",{mpz_get_str(mpz_hamming(1691))})
printf(1,"%s\n",{mpz_get_str(mpz_hamming(1000000))})
Output:
{1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,12,15,16,18,20,24,25,27,30,32,36}
2125764000
246192725545902804828662268200 (wrong!)
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

A much faster logarithmic version

This proved much easier to implement than scanning the other entries suggested [not copied, they all frighten me].
At some point, comparing logs will no doubt get it wrong, but I have no idea when that might happen.

with javascript_semantics 
-- numbers kept as {log,{pow2,pow3,pow5}},
--  value is ~= exp(log), == (2^pow2)*(3^pow3)*(5^pow5)
enum LOG, POWS
enum POW2, POW3, POW5

function lnmin(sequence a, sequence b)
    return iff(a[LOG]<b[LOG]?a:b)
end function

constant ln1 = log(1), ln2 = log(2), ln3 = log(3), ln5 = log(5)

function hamming(integer N)
sequence h = repeat(0,N)
sequence x2 = {ln2,{1,0,0}}, 
         x3 = {ln3,{0,1,0}},
         x5 = {ln5,{0,0,1}}
integer i = 1, j = 1, k = 1
    h[1] = {ln1,{0,0,0}}
    for n=2 to N do
        h[n] = deep_copy(lnmin(x2,lnmin(x3,x5)))
        sequence p = h[n][POWS]
        if p=x2[POWS] then i += 1 x2 = deep_copy(h[i]) x2[LOG] += ln2 x2[POWS][POW2] += 1 end if
        if p=x3[POWS] then j += 1 x3 = deep_copy(h[j]) x3[LOG] += ln3 x3[POWS][POW3] += 1 end if
        if p=x5[POWS] then k += 1 x5 = deep_copy(h[k]) x5[LOG] += ln5 x5[POWS][POW5] += 1 end if
    end for
    return h[N]
end function

function hint(sequence hm)
-- (obviously not accurate above 53 bits on a 32-bit system, or 64 bits on a 64 bit system)
    sequence p = hm[POWS]
    return power(2,p[POW2])*power(3,p[POW3])*power(5,p[POW5])
end function

sequence s = {}
for i=1 to 20 do
    s = append(s,hint(hamming(i)))
end for
printf(1,"hamming[1..20]: %v\n",{s})
?hint(hamming(1691))
?hint(hamming(1000000))
printf(1," %d (approx)\n",hint(hamming(1000000)))

include builtins\mpfr.e

function mpz_hint(sequence hm)
-- (as accurate as you like)
    integer {p2,p3,p5} = hm[POWS]
    mpz {tmp2,tmp3,tmp5} = mpz_inits(3)
    mpz_ui_pow_ui(tmp2,2,p2)
    mpz_ui_pow_ui(tmp3,3,p3)
    mpz_ui_pow_ui(tmp5,5,p5)
    mpz_mul(tmp3,tmp3,tmp5)
    mpz_mul(tmp2,tmp2,tmp3)
    return mpz_get_str(tmp2)
end function

?mpz_hint(hamming(1000000))
Output:
hamming[1..20]: {1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,12,15,16,18,20,24,25,27,30,32,36}
2125764000.0
5.193127804e+83
 519312780448389068266824288284848486280402222226888608420684482660084484246042460000 (approx)
"519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000"

Under pwa/p2js, no real idea or any fretting over why, we instead get:

 519312780448388740000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 (approx)

Picat

go =>
   println([hamming(I) : I in 1..20]),
   time(println(hamming_1691=hamming(1691))),
   time(println(hamming_1000000=hamming(1000000))),
   nl.

hamming(1) = 1.
hamming(2) = 2.
hamming(3) = 3.
hamming(N) = Hamming =>
   A = new_array(N),
   [Next2, Next3, Next5] = [2,3,5],
   A[1] := Next2, A[2] := Next3, A[3] := Next5,
   I = 0, J = 0, K = 0, M = 1,  
   while (M < N) 
      A[M] := min([Next2,Next3,Next5]),
      if A[M] == Next2 then I := I+1, Next2 := 2*A[I] end,
      if A[M] == Next3 then J := J+1, Next3 := 3*A[J] end,
      if A[M] == Next5 then K := K+1, Next5 := 5*A[K] end,
      M := M + 1
   end,
   Hamming = A[N-1].
Output:
[1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,12,15,16,18,20,24,25,27,30,32,36]
hamming_1691 = 2125764000
CPU time 0.0 seconds.

hamming_1000000 = 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
CPU time 2.721 seconds.

PicoLisp

(de hamming (N)
   (let (L (1)  H)
      (do N
         (for (X L X (cadr X))      # Find smallest result
            (setq H (car X)) )
         (idx 'L H NIL)             # Remove it
         (for I (2 3 5)             # Generate next results
            (idx 'L (* I H) T) ) )
      H ) )

(println (make (for N 20 (link (hamming N)))))
(println (hamming 1691))   # very fast
(println (hamming 1000000))   # runtime about 13 minutes on i5-3570S
Output:
(1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36)
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

PL/I

(subscriptrange):
Hamming: procedure options (main); /* 14 November 2013 with fixes 2021 */
   declare (H(2000), p2, p3, p5, twoTo31, Hm, tenP(11)) decimal(12)fixed;
   declare (i, j, k, m, d, w) fixed binary;

   /* Quicksorts in-place the array of integers H, from lb to ub */
   quicksortH: procedure( lb, ub ) recursive;
      declare ( lb,   ub    )binary(15)fixed;
      declare ( left, right )binary(15)fixed;
      declare ( pivot, swap )decimal(12)fixed;
      declare sorting        bit(1);
      if ub > lb then do
         /* more than one element, so must sort */
         left    = lb;
         right   = ub;
         /* choosing the middle element of the array as the pivot */
         pivot   = H( left + ( ( right + 1 ) - left ) / 2 );
         sorting = '1'b;
         do while( sorting );
            do while( left  <= ub & H( left  ) < pivot ); left  = left  + 1; end;
            do while( right >= lb & H( right ) > pivot ); right = right - 1; end;
            sorting = ( left <= right );
            if sorting then do;
               swap       = H( left  );
               H( left  ) = H( right );
               H( right ) = swap;
               left       = left  + 1;
               right      = right - 1;
            end;
         end;
         call quicksortH( lb,   right );
         call quicksortH( left, ub    );
      end;
   end quicksortH ;

   /* find 2^31 - the limit for Hamming numbers we need to find */
   twoTo31 = 2;
   do i = 2 to 31;
      twoTo31 = twoTo31 * 2;
   end;
   /* calculate powers of 10 so we can check the number of digits */
   /* the numbers will have */
   tenP( 1 ) = 10;
   do i = 2 to 11;
      tenP( i ) = 10 * tenP( i - 1 );
   end;

   /* find the numbers */
   m = 0;
   p5 = 1;
   do k = 0 to 13;
      p3 = 1;
      do j = 0 to 19;
         Hm = 0;
         p2 = 1;
         do i = 0 to 31 while( Hm < twoTo31 );
            /* count the number of digits p2 * p3 * p5 will have */
            d = 0;
            do w = 1 to 11 while( tenP(w) < p2 ); d = d + 1; end;
            do w = 1 to 11 while( tenP(w) < p3 ); d = d + 1; end;
            do w = 1 to 11 while( tenP(w) < p5 ); d = d + 1; end;
            if d < 11 then do;
               /* the product will be small enough */
               Hm = p2 * p3 * p5;
               if Hm < twoTo31 then do;
                  m = m + 1;
                  H(m) = Hm;
               end;
            end;
            p2 = p2 * 2;
         end;
         p3 = p3 * 3;
      end;
      p5 = p5 * 5;
   end;

   /* sort the numbers */
   call quicksortH( 1, m );

   put skip list( 'The first 20 Hamming numbers:' );
   do i = 1 to 20;
      put skip list (H(i));
   end;
   put skip list( 'Hamming number 1691:' );
   put skip list (H(1691));

end Hamming;

Results:

The first 20 Hamming numbers:
              1
              2
              3
              4
              5
              6
              8
              9
             10
             12
             15
             16
             18
             20
             24
             25
             27
             30
             32
             36
Hamming number 1691:
     2125764000

Prolog

Generator idiom

%% collect N elements produced by a generator in a row
 
take( 0, Next, Z-Z, Next).
take( N, Next, [A|B]-Z, NZ):- N>0, !, next(Next,A,Next1),
  N1 is N-1,
  take(N1,Next1,B-Z,NZ).
 
%% a generator provides specific {next} implementation
 
next( hamm( A2,B,C3,D,E5,F,[H|G] ), H, hamm(X,U,Y,V,Z,W,G) ):- 
  H is min(A2, min(C3,E5)),
  (   A2 =:= H -> B=[N2|U],X is N2*2 ; (X,U)=(A2,B) ),
  (   C3 =:= H -> D=[N3|V],Y is N3*3 ; (Y,V)=(C3,D) ),
  (   E5 =:= H -> F=[N5|W],Z is N5*5 ; (Z,W)=(E5,F) ).
 
mkHamm( hamm(1,X,1,X,1,X,X) ).       % Hamming numbers generator init state

main(N) :- 
    mkHamm(G),take(20,G,A-[],_),           write(A), nl, 
    take(1691-1,G,_,G2),take(2,G2,B-[],_),     write(B), nl,  
    take(  N  -1,G,_,G3),take(2,G3,[C1|_]-_,_),   write(C1), nl.

SWI Prolog 6.2.6 produces (in about 7 ideone seconds):

 ?- time( main(1000000) ).
 [1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,12,15,16,18,20,24,25,27,30,32,36]
 [2125764000,2147483648]
 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
 % 10,017,142 inferences

Laziness flavor

Works with SWI-Prolog. Laziness is simulate with freeze/2 and ground/2.
Took inspiration from this code : http://chr.informatik.uni-ulm.de/~webchr (click on hamming.pl: Solves Hamming Problem).

hamming(N) :-
     % to stop cleanly
     nb_setval(go, 1),

     % display list
     (	 N = 20 -> watch_20(20, L); watch(1,N,L)),

     % go
     L=[1|L235],
     multlist(L,2,L2),
     multlist(L,3,L3),
     multlist(L,5,L5),
     merge_(L2,L3,L23),
     merge_(L5,L23,L235).


%% multlist(L,N,LN)
%% multiply each element of list L with N, resulting in list LN
%% here only do multiplication for 1st element, then use multlist recursively
multlist([X|L],N,XLN) :-
	% the trick to stop
	nb_getval(go, 1) ->

	% laziness flavor	
	when(ground(X),
	     (	 XN is X*N,
		 XLN=[XN|LN],
		 multlist(L,N,LN)));

	true.

merge_([X|In1],[Y|In2],XYOut) :-
	% the trick to stop
	nb_getval(go, 1) ->

	% laziness flavor
	(   X < Y -> XYOut = [X|Out], In11 = In1, In12 = [Y|In2]
	;   X = Y -> XYOut = [X|Out], In11 = In1, In12 = In2
	;            XYOut = [Y|Out], In11 = [X | In1], In12 = In2),
	freeze(In11,freeze(In12, merge_(In11,In12,Out)));

	true.

%% display nth element
watch(Max, Max, [X|_]) :-
	% laziness flavor
	when(ground(X),
	     (format('~w~n', [X]),

	      % the trick to stop
	      nb_linkval(go, 0))).


watch(N, Max, [_X|L]):-
	 N1 is N + 1,
	 watch(N1, Max, L).


%% display nth element
watch_20(1, [X|_]) :-
	% laziness flavor
	when(ground(X),
	     (format('~w~n', [X]),

	      % the trick to stop
	      nb_linkval(go, 0))).


watch_20(N, [X|L]):-
	% laziness flavor
	when(ground(X),
	     (format('~w ', [X]),
	      N1 is N - 1,
	      watch_20(N1, L))).
Output:
?- hamming(20).
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36
true .

?- hamming(1691).
2125764000
true .

?- hamming(1000000).
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
true .

PureBasic

#X2 = 2
#X3 = 3
#X5 = 5

Macro Ham(w)
  PrintN("H("+Str(w)+") = "+Str(Hamming(w)))
EndMacro

Procedure.i Hamming(l.i)
  Define.i i,j,k,n,m,x=#X2,y=#X3,z=#X5
  Dim h.i(l) : h(0)=1
  For n=1 To l-1
    m=x
    If m>y : m=y : EndIf
    If m>z : m=z : EndIf
    h(n)=m
    If m=x : i+1 : x=#X2*h(i) : EndIf
    If m=y : j+1 : y=#X3*h(j) : EndIf
    If m=z : k+1 : z=#X5*h(k) : EndIf    
  Next
  ProcedureReturn h(l-1)
EndProcedure

OpenConsole("Hamming numbers")
For h.i=1 To 20
  Ham(h)  
Next
Ham(1691)
Input()
Output:
H(1) = 1

H(2) = 2 H(3) = 3 H(4) = 4 H(5) = 5 H(6) = 6 H(7) = 8 H(8) = 9 H(9) = 10 H(10) = 12 H(11) = 15 H(12) = 16 H(13) = 18 H(14) = 20 H(15) = 24 H(16) = 25 H(17) = 27 H(18) = 30 H(19) = 32 H(20) = 36

H(1691) = 2125764000

Python

Version based on example from Dr. Dobb's CodeTalk

from itertools import islice

def hamming2():
    '''\
    This version is based on a snippet from:
        https://web.archive.org/web/20081219014725/http://dobbscodetalk.com:80
                         /index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=913&Itemid=85
        http://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/hamming-problem/228700538
        Hamming problem
        Written by Will Ness
        December 07, 2008

        When expressed in some imaginary pseudo-C with automatic
        unlimited storage allocation and BIGNUM arithmetics, it can be
        expressed as:
            hamming = h where
              array h;
              n=0; h[0]=1; i=0; j=0; k=0;
              x2=2*h[ i ]; x3=3*h[j]; x5=5*h[k];
              repeat:
                h[++n] = min(x2,x3,x5);
                if (x2==h[n]) { x2=2*h[++i]; }
                if (x3==h[n]) { x3=3*h[++j]; }
                if (x5==h[n]) { x5=5*h[++k]; } 
    '''
    h = 1
    _h=[h]    # memoized
    multipliers  = (2, 3, 5)
    multindeces  = [0 for i in multipliers] # index into _h for multipliers
    multvalues   = [x * _h[i] for x,i in zip(multipliers, multindeces)]
    yield h
    while True:
        h = min(multvalues)
        _h.append(h)
        for (n,(v,x,i)) in enumerate(zip(multvalues, multipliers, multindeces)):
            if v == h:
                i += 1
                multindeces[n] = i
                multvalues[n]  = x * _h[i]
        # cap the memoization
        mini = min(multindeces)
        if mini >= 1000:
            del _h[:mini]
            multindeces = [i - mini for i in multindeces]
        #
        yield h
Output:
>>> list(islice(hamming2(), 20))
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 36]
>>> list(islice(hamming2(), 1690, 1691))
[2125764000]
>>> list(islice(hamming2(), 999999, 1000000))
[519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000]

Another implementation of same approach

This version uses a lot of memory, it doesn't try to limit memory usage.

import psyco

def hamming(limit):
    h = [1] * limit
    x2, x3, x5 = 2, 3, 5
    i = j = k = 0

    for n in xrange(1, limit):
        h[n] = min(x2, x3, x5)
        if x2 == h[n]:
            i += 1
            x2 = 2 * h[i]
        if x3 == h[n]:
            j += 1
            x3 = 3 * h[j]
        if x5 == h[n]:
            k += 1
            x5 = 5 * h[k]

    return h[-1]

psyco.bind(hamming)
print [hamming(i) for i in xrange(1, 21)]
print hamming(1691)
print hamming(1000000)

Implementation based on priority queue

This is inspired by the Picolisp implementation further down, but uses a priority queue instead of a search tree. Computes 3x more numbers than necessary, but discards them quickly so memory usage is not too bad.

from heapq import heappush, heappop
from itertools import islice

def h():
    heap = [1]
    while True:
        h = heappop(heap)
        while heap and h==heap[0]:
            heappop(heap)
        for m in [2,3,5]:
            heappush(heap, m*h)
        yield h

print list(islice(h(), 20))
print list(islice(h(), 1690, 1691))
print list(islice(h(), 999999, 1000000)) # runtime 9.5 sec on i5-3570S

"Cyclical Iterators"

The original author is Raymond Hettinger and the code was first published here under the MIT license. Uses iterators dubbed "cyclical" in a sense that they are referring back (explicitly, with p2, p3, p5 iterators) to the previously produced values, same as the above versions (through indices into shared storage) and the classic Haskell version (implicitly timed by lazy evaluation).

Memory is efficiently maintained automatically by the tee function for each of the three generator expressions, i.e. only that much is maintained as needed to produce the next value (although, for Python versions older than 3.6 it looks like the storage is not shared so three copies are maintained implicitly there -- whereas for 3.6 and up the storage is shared between the returned iterators, so only a single underlying FIFO queue is maintained, according to the documentation).

from itertools import tee, chain, groupby, islice
from heapq import merge

def raymonds_hamming():
    # Generate "5-smooth" numbers, also called "Hamming numbers"
    # or "Regular numbers".  See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_number
    # Finds solutions to 2**i * 3**j * 5**k  for some integers i, j, and k.

    def deferred_output():
        for i in output:
            yield i

    result, p2, p3, p5 = tee(deferred_output(), 4)
    m2 = (2*x for x in p2)                          # multiples of 2
    m3 = (3*x for x in p3)                          # multiples of 3
    m5 = (5*x for x in p5)                          # multiples of 5
    merged = merge(m2, m3, m5)
    combined = chain([1], merged)                   # prepend a starting point
    output = (k for k,g in groupby(combined))       # eliminate duplicates

    return result

print list(islice(raymonds_hamming(), 20))
print islice(raymonds_hamming(), 1689, 1690).next()
print islice(raymonds_hamming(), 999999, 1000000).next()

Results are the same as before.

Non-sharing recursive generator

Another formulation along the same lines, but greatly simplified, found here. Lacks data sharing, i.e. calls self recursively thus creating a separate copy of the data stream fed to the tee() call, again and again, instead of using its own output. This gravely impacts the efficiency. Not to be used.

from heapq import merge
from itertools import tee

def hamming_numbers():
    last = 1
    yield last

    a,b,c = tee(hamming_numbers(), 3)

    for n in merge((2*i for i in a), (3*i for i in b), (5*i for i in c)):
        if n != last:
            yield n
            last = n

Cyclic generator method #2.

Cyclic generator method #2. Considerably faster due to early elimination (before merge) of duplicates. Currently the faster Python version. Direct copy of Haskell code.

from itertools import islice, chain, tee

def merge(r, s):
    # This is faster than heapq.merge.
    rr = r.next()
    ss = s.next()
    while True:
        if rr < ss:
            yield rr
            rr = r.next()
        else:
            yield ss
            ss = s.next()

def p(n):
    def gen():
        x = n
        while True:
            yield x
            x *= n
    return gen()

def pp(n, s):
    def gen():
        for x in (merge(s, chain([n], (n * y for y in fb)))):
            yield x
    r, fb = tee(gen())
    return r

def hamming(a, b = None):
    if not b:
        b = a + 1
    seq = (chain([1], pp(5, pp(3, p(2)))))
    return list(islice(seq, a - 1, b - 1))

print hamming(1, 21)
print hamming(1691)[0]
print hamming(1000000)[0]

QBasic

Works with: QBasic version 1.1
Works with: QuickBasic version 4.5
FUNCTION min (a, b)
    IF a < b THEN min = a ELSE min = b
END FUNCTION

FUNCTION Hamming (limit)
    DIM h(limit)
    
    h(0) = 1
    x2 = 2
    x3 = 3
    x5 = 5
    i = 0
    j = 0
    k = 0
    FOR n = 1 TO limit
        h(n) = min(x2, min(x3, x5))
        IF x2 = h(n) THEN
            i = i + 1
            x2 = 2 * h(i)
        END IF
        IF x3 = h(n) THEN
            j = j + 1
            x3 = 3 * h(j)
        END IF
        IF x5 = h(n) THEN
            k = k + 1
            x5 = 5 * h(k)
        END IF
    NEXT n
    Hamming = h(limit - 1)
END FUNCTION

PRINT "The first 20 Hamming numbers are :"
FOR i = 1 TO 20
    PRINT Hamming(i); " ";
NEXT i

PRINT
PRINT "H( 1691) = "; Hamming(1691)

Qi

This example is incomplete. Parts 2 & 3 of task missing. Please ensure that it meets all task requirements and remove this message.
Translation of: Clojure
(define smerge
  [X|Xs] [Y|Ys] -> [X | (freeze (smerge (thaw Xs) [Y|Ys]))] where (< X Y)
  [X|Xs] [Y|Ys] -> [Y | (freeze (smerge [X|Xs] (thaw Ys)))] where (> X Y)
  [X|Xs] [_|Ys] -> [X | (freeze (smerge (thaw Xs) (thaw Ys)))])

(define smerge3
  Xs Ys Zs -> (smerge Xs (smerge Ys Zs)))

(define smap
  F [S|Ss] -> [(F S)|(freeze (smap F (thaw Ss)))])

(set hamming [1 | (freeze (smerge3 (smap (* 2) (value hamming))
                                   (smap (* 3) (value hamming))
                                   (smap (* 5) (value hamming))))])

(define stake
  _      0 -> []
  [S|Ss] N -> [S|(stake (thaw Ss) (1- N))])

(stake (value hamming) 20)
Output:
[1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36]

Quackery

Uses smoothwith from N-smooth numbers#Quackery.

  ' [ 2 3 5 ] smoothwith [ size 1000000 = ]
  dup 20 split drop echo cr
  dup 1690 peek echo cr
  -1 peek echo
Output:
[ 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 ]
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

R

Recursively find the Hamming numbers below . Shown are results for tasks 1 and 2. Arbitrary precision integers are not supported natively.

hamming=function(hamms,limit) {
  tmp=hamms
  for(h in c(2,3,5)) {
    tmp=c(tmp,h*hamms)
  }
  tmp=unique(tmp[tmp<=limit])
  if(length(tmp)>length(hamms)) {
    hamms=hamming(tmp,limit)
  }
  hamms
}
h <- sort(hamming(1,limit=2^31-1))
print(h[1:20])
print(h[length(h)])
Output:
[1]  1  2  3  4  5  6  8  9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36
[1] 2125764000

Alternate version

The nextn R function provides the needed functionality:

hamming <- function(n) {
  a <- numeric(n)
  a[1] <- 1
  for (i in 2:n) {
    a[i] <- nextn(a[i-1]+1)
  }
  a
}

Output

 hamming(20)
 [1]  1  2  3  4  5  6  8  9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36

Racket

#lang racket
(require racket/stream)
(define first stream-first)
(define rest  stream-rest)

(define (merge s1 s2)
  (define x1 (first s1))
  (define x2 (first s2))
  (cond [(= x1 x2) (merge s1 (rest s2))]
        [(< x1 x2) (stream-cons x1 (merge (rest s1) s2))]
        [else      (stream-cons x2 (merge s1 (rest s2)))]))

(define (mult k) (λ(x) (* x k)))

(define hamming
  (stream-cons 
   1 (merge (stream-map (mult 2) hamming)
            (merge (stream-map (mult 3) hamming)
                   (stream-map (mult 5) hamming)))))

(for/list ([i 20] [x hamming]) x)
(stream-ref hamming 1690)
(stream-ref hamming 999999)
Output:
'(1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36)
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Translation of Haskell code avoiding duplicates

The above version consumes quite a lot of memory as streams are retained since the head of the stream is a global defined binding "hamming". The following code implements (hamming) as a function and all heads of streams are locally defined so that they can be garbage collected as they are consumed; as well it is formulated so that no duplicate values are generated so as to simplify the calculation and minimize the number of values in the streams; to further the latter it also evaluates the least dense stream first. The following code is about three times faster than the above code:

Translation of: Haskell
#lang racket
(require racket/stream)
(define first stream-first)
(define rest  stream-rest)
 
(define (hamming)
  (define (merge s1 s2)
    (let ([x1 (first s1)]
          [x2 (first s2)])
      (if (< x1 x2) ; don't have to handle duplicate case
          (stream-cons x1 (merge (rest s1) s2))
          (stream-cons x2 (merge s1 (rest s2))))))
  (define (smult m s) ; faster than using map (* m)
    (define (smlt ss)
      (stream-cons (* m (first ss)) (smlt (rest ss))))
    (smlt s))
  (define (u n s)
    (if (stream-empty? s) ; checking here more efficient than in merge
        (letrec ([r          (smult n (stream-cons 1 r)) ])
          r)
        (letrec ([r (merge s (smult n (stream-cons 1 r)))])
          r)))
  ;; (stream-cons 1 (u 2 (u 3 (u 5 empty-stream))))
  (stream-cons 1 (foldr u empty-stream '(2 3 5))))
 
(for/list ([i 20] [x (hamming)]) x) (newline)
(stream-ref (hamming) 1690) (newline)
(stream-ref (hamming) 999999) (newline)

The output of the above code is the same as that of the earlier code.

Raku

(formerly Perl 6)

Merge version

Works with: rakudo version 2015-11-04

The limit scaling is not required, but it cuts down on a bunch of unnecessary calculation.

my $limit = 32;

sub powers_of ($radix) { 1, |[\*] $radix xx * }

my @hammings = 
  (   powers_of(2)[^ $limit ]       X*
      powers_of(3)[^($limit * 2/3)] X* 
      powers_of(5)[^($limit * 1/2)]
   ).sort;

say @hammings[^20];
say @hammings[1690]; # zero indexed
Output:
(1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36)
2125764000

Iterative version

Works with: rakudo version 6.c

This version uses a lazy list, storing a maximum of two extra value from the highest index requested

my \Hammings := gather {
  my %i = 2, 3, 5 Z=> (Hammings.iterator for ^3);
  my %n = 2, 3, 5 Z=> 1 xx 3;

  loop {
    take my $n := %n{2, 3, 5}.min;

    for 2, 3, 5 -> \k {
      %n{k} = %i{k}.pull-one * k if %n{k} == $n;
    }
  }
}
  
say Hammings.[^20];
say Hammings.[1691 - 1];
say Hammings.[1000000 - 1];
Output:
(1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36)
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Raven

Translation of: Liberty Basic
define hamming use $limit
    [ ] as $h
    1 $h 0 set
    2 as $x2   3 as $x3    5 as $x5
    0 as $i    0 as $j     0 as $k
    1 $limit 1 + 1 range each as $n
        $x3 $x5 min $x2 min    $h $n   set
        $h $n get   $x2 =  if
            $i  1 +   as $i
            $h $i get    2 *     as $x2
        $h $n get   $x3 =  if
            $j  1 +   as $j
            $h $j get    3 *     as $x3
        $h $n get   $x5 =  if
            $k  1 +   as $k
            $h $k get    5 *     as $x5
    $h   $limit 1 -   get

1 21 1 range each as $lim
    $lim hamming print " " print
"\n" print

"Hamming(1691) is: " print    1691 hamming print    "\n" print

# Raven can't handle > 2^31 using integers
#
#"Hamming(1000000) is: " print   1000000 hamming print    "\n" print
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 
Hamming(1691) is: 2125764000

REXX

The three REXX versions compute and present the Hamming numbers in numerical order.

idiomatic

This REXX program was a direct copy from my old REXX subroutine to compute   UGLY   numbers,
it computes   just enough   Hamming numbers   (two Hamming numbers after the current number).

/*REXX program computes  Hamming numbers:  1 ──► 20,  # 1691,  and  the  one millionth. */
numeric digits 100                               /*ensure enough decimal digits.        */
call hamming       1, 20                         /*show the 1st ──► twentieth Hamming #s*/
call hamming    1691                             /*show the 1,691st Hamming number.     */
call hamming 1000000                             /*show the  1 millionth Hamming number.*/
exit                                             /*stick a fork in it,  we're all done. */
/*──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────*/
hamming: procedure; parse arg x,y;         if y==''  then y= x;       w= length(y)
                                   #2= 1;     #3= 1;      #5= 1;      @.= 0;        @.1= 1
            do n=2  for y-1
            @.n= min(2*@.#2,  3*@.#3,  5*@.#5)   /*pick the minimum of 3 Hamming numbers*/
            if 2*@.#2 == @.n   then #2= #2 + 1   /*number already defined?  Use next #. */
            if 3*@.#3 == @.n   then #3= #3 + 1   /*   "      "       "       "    "  "  */
            if 5*@.#5 == @.n   then #5= #5 + 1   /*   "      "       "       "    "  "  */
            end   /*n*/                          /* [↑]  maybe assign next 3 Hamming#s. */
                         do j=x  to y;     say  'Hamming('right(j, w)") ="    @.j
                         end   /*j*/

         say right( 'length of last Hamming number ='     length(@.y), 70);        say
         return
output   when using the default inputs:
Hamming( 1) = 1
Hamming( 2) = 2
Hamming( 3) = 3
Hamming( 4) = 4
Hamming( 5) = 5
Hamming( 6) = 6
Hamming( 7) = 8
Hamming( 8) = 9
Hamming( 9) = 10
Hamming(10) = 12
Hamming(11) = 15
Hamming(12) = 16
Hamming(13) = 18
Hamming(14) = 20
Hamming(15) = 24
Hamming(16) = 25
Hamming(17) = 27
Hamming(18) = 30
Hamming(19) = 32
Hamming(20) = 36
                                     length of last Hamming number = 2

Hamming(1691) = 2125764000
                                    length of last Hamming number = 10

Hamming(1000000) = 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
                                    length of last Hamming number = 84

optimized

This REXX version is roughly twice as fast as the 1st REXX version.

/*REXX program computes  Hamming numbers:  1 ──► 20,   # 1691,   and  the one millionth.*/
call hamming       1, 20                         /*show the 1st ──► twentieth Hamming #s*/
call hamming    1691                             /*show the 1,691st Hamming number.     */
call hamming 1000000                             /*show the  1 millionth Hamming number.*/
exit                                             /*stick a fork in it,  we're all done. */
/*──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────*/
hamming: procedure; arg x,y;  if y==''  then y= x;  w= length(y);  L= length(y-1); p= 2**L
         numeric digits max(9, p + p%4 + p%16)   /*ensure enough decimal digits.        */
                                    #2= 1;    #3= 1;     #5= 1;     @.= 0;       @.1= 1
            do n=2  for y-1
            _2= @.#2 + @.#2                      /*this is faster than:      @.#2 * 2   */
            _3= @.#3 + @.#3 + @.#3               /*  "   "    "     "        @,#3 * 3   */
            _5= @.#5 * 5
                              m= _2              /*assume a minimum (of the 3 Hammings).*/
            if _3  < m   then m= _3              /*is this number less than the minimum?*/
            if _5  < m   then m= _5              /* "   "     "     "    "   "     "    */
                @.n= m                           /*now,  assign the next Hamming number.*/
            if _2 == m   then #2= #2 + 1         /*number already defined?   Use next #.*/
            if _3 == m   then #3= #3 + 1         /*   "      "       "        "    "  " */
            if _5 == m   then #5= #5 + 1         /*   "      "       "        "    "  " */
            end   /*n*/                          /* [↑]  maybe assign next Hamming #'s. */
                         do j=x  to y;      say 'Hamming('right(j, w)") ="     @.j
                         end   /*j*/

         say right( 'length of last Hamming number ='     length(@.y), 70);        say
         return
output   is identical to the 1st REXX version.

for huge numbers

This REXX version is slightly slower than the 2nd REXX version.

It can, however, computer much larger Hamming numbers   (by storing the larger numbers in exponential format).
This is possible because larger Hamming numbers have a significant number of trailing zeros.

/*REXX program computes  Hamming numbers:  1 ──► 20,   # 1691,   and  the one millionth.*/
call hamming       1, 20                         /*show the 1st ──► twentieth Hamming #s*/
call hamming    1691                             /*show the 1,691st Hamming number.     */
call hamming 1000000                             /*show the  1 millionth Hamming number.*/
exit                                             /*stick a fork in it,  we're all done. */
/*──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────*/
hamming: procedure; arg x,y;  if y==''  then y= x;  w= length(y);  L= length(y-1); p= 2**L
         numeric digits max(9, p + p%4 + p%16)   /*ensure enough decimal digits.        */
                                    #2= 1;    #3= 1;     #5= 1;     @.= 0;       @.1= 1
            do n=2  for y-1
            _2= @.#2 + @.#2                      /*this is faster than:      @.#2 * 2   */
            _3= @.#3 + @.#3 + @.#3               /*  "   "    "     "        @,#3 * 3   */
            _5= @.#5 * 5
                              m= _2              /*assume a minimum (of the 3 Hammings).*/
            if _3  < m   then m= _3              /*is this number less than the minimum?*/
            if _5  < m   then m= _5              /* "   "     "     "    "   "     "    */
                    @.n= format(m,,,,0)          /*now,  assign the next Hamming number.*/
            if _2 == m   then #2= #2 + 1         /*number already defined?   Use next #.*/
            if _3 == m   then #3= #3 + 1         /*   "      "       "        "    "  " */
            if _5 == m   then #5= #5 + 1         /*   "      "       "        "    "  " */
            end   /*n*/                          /* [↑]  maybe assign next Hamming #'s. */
                         do j=x  to y;      say 'Hamming('right(j, w)") ="     @.j / 1
                         end   /*j*/

         say right( 'length of last Hamming number ='     length(@.y / 1), 70);        say
         return
output   is identical to the 1st REXX version.


Ring

see "h(1) = 1" + nl
for nr = 1 to 19
     see "h(" + (nr+1) + ") = " + hamming(nr) + nl
next
see "h(1691) = " + hamming(1690) + nl
see nl
 
func hamming limit
     h = list(1690)
     h[1] =1
     x2 = 2 x3 = 3 x5 =5
     i  = 0 j  = 0 k  =0   
     for n =1 to limit
         h[n]  = min(x2, min(x3, x5))
         if x2 = h[n]  i = i +1  x2 =2 *h[i] ok
         if x3 = h[n]  j = j +1  x3 =3 *h[j] ok
         if x5 = h[n]  k = k +1  x5 =5 *h[k] ok
     next
     hamming = h[limit]
     return hamming

Output:

h(1) = 1
h(2) = 2
h(3) = 3
h(4) = 4
h(5) = 5
h(6) = 6
h(7) = 8
h(8) = 9
h(9) = 10
h(10) = 12
h(11) = 15
h(12) = 16
h(13) = 18
h(14) = 20
h(15) = 24
h(16) = 25
h(17) = 27
h(18) = 30
h(19) = 32
h(20) = 36
h(1691) = 2125764000

RPL

RPL does not provide any multi-precision capability, so only parts 1 and 2 of the task can be implemented.

Using global variables In and Xn avoids stack acrobatics that would have made the code slower and unintelligible, despite the ugly 'var_name' STO syntax inherited from vintage HP calculators.

≪ 1 ‘I2’ STO 1 ‘I3’ STO 1 ‘I5’ STO 2 ‘X2’ STO 3 ‘X3’ STO 5 ‘X5’ STO
  { 1 } 1 ROT 1 - FOR n
     X2 X3 MIN X5 MIN
     SWAP OVER + SWAP
     IF X2 OVER == THEN 1 ‘I2’ STO+ OVER I2 GET 2 * ‘X2’ STO END
     IF X3 OVER == THEN 1 ‘I3’ STO+ OVER I3 GET 3 * ‘X3’ STO END
     IF X5 == THEN 1 ‘I5’ STO+ DUP I5 GET 5 * ‘X5’ STO END
   NEXT
≫ 'HAMM' STO
20 HAMM
1691 HAMM DUP SIZE GET
Output:
2: { 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 }
1: 2125764000

Ruby

Translation of: Scala
Works with: Ruby version 1.9.3
hamming = Enumerator.new do |yielder|
  next_ham = 1
  queues = [[ 2, []], [3, []], [5, []] ]
  
  loop do
    yielder << next_ham   # or: yielder.yield(next_ham)
    
    queues.each {|m,queue| queue << next_ham * m}
    next_ham = queues.collect{|m,queue| queue.first}.min
    queues.each {|m,queue| queue.shift if queue.first==next_ham}
  end
end

And the "main" part of the task

start = Time.now

hamming.each.with_index(1) do |ham, idx|
  case idx
  when (1..20), 1691
    puts "#{idx} => #{ham}"
  when 1_000_000
    puts "#{idx} => #{ham}"
    break
  end
end

puts "elapsed: #{Time.now - start} seconds"
Output:
1 => 1
2 => 2
3 => 3
4 => 4
5 => 5
6 => 6
7 => 8
8 => 9
9 => 10
10 => 12
11 => 15
12 => 16
13 => 18
14 => 20
15 => 24
16 => 25
17 => 27
18 => 30
19 => 32
20 => 36
1691 => 2125764000
1000000 => 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
elapsed: 6.522811 seconds
System: I7-6700HQ, 3.5 GHz, Linux Kernel 5.6.17
Run as: $ ruby hammingnumbers.rb
elapsed: 2.589248076 seconds  # Ruby 2.7.1
elapsed: 2.067365 seconds     # JRuby 9.2.11.1
elapsed: N/A - too long       # Truffleruby 20.0.0

Alternative version:

Translation of: Crystal
def hamming(limit)
  h = Array.new(limit, 1)
  x2, x3, x5 = 2, 3, 5
  i, j, k = 0, 0, 0
  (1...limit).each do |n|
    # h[n] = [x2, [x3, x5].min].min    # not as fast on all VMs
    h[n] = (x3 < x5 ? (x2 < x3 ? x2 : x3) : (x2 < x5 ? x2 : x5))
    x2 = 2 * h[i += 1] if x2 == h[n]
    x3 = 3 * h[j += 1] if x3 == h[n]
    x5 = 5 * h[k += 1] if x5 == h[n]
  end
  h[limit - 1]
end

start = Time.new
print "Hamming Number (1..20): "; (1..20).each { |i| print "#{hamming(i)} " }
puts
puts "Hamming Number 1691: #{hamming 1691}"
puts "Hamming Number 1,000,000: #{hamming 1_000_000}"
puts "Elasped Time: #{Time.new - start} secs"
System: I7-6700HQ, 3.5 GHz, Linux Kernel 5.6.17
Run as: $ ruby hammingnumbers.rb
Output:
Hamming Number (1..20): 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 
Hamming Number 1691: 2125764000
Hamming Number 1,000,000: 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Elasped Time: 1.566937062 secs # Ruby 2.7.1
Elasped Time: 1.3442580 secs   # JRuby 9.2.11.1
Elasped Time: 1.627 secs       # Truffleruby 20.1.0

Run BASIC

dim h(1000000)
for i =1 to 20
    print hamming(i);" ";
next i
 
print
print "Hamming List First(1691)   =";chr$(9);hamming(1691)
print "Hamming List Last(1000000) =";chr$(9);hamming(1000000)
 
end
 
function hamming(limit)
    h(0) =1
    x2 = 2: x3 = 3: x5 =5
    i  = 0: j  = 0: k  =0
    for n =1 to limit
        h(n)  = min(x2, min(x3, x5))
        if x2 = h(n) then i = i +1: x2 =2 *h(i)
        if x3 = h(n) then j = j +1: x3 =3 *h(j)
        if x5 = h(n) then k = k +1: x5 =5 *h(k)
    next n
    hamming = h(limit -1)
end function
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 
Hamming List First(1691)   =	2125764000
Hamming List Last(1000000) =	519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Rust

Library: num

Basic version

Translation of: D

Improved by minimizing the number of BigUint comparisons:

extern crate num;
num::bigint::BigUint;

use std::time::Instant;

fn basic_hamming(n: usize) -> BigUint {
    let two = BigUint::from(2u8);
    let three = BigUint::from(3u8);
    let five = BigUint::from(5u8);
    let mut h = vec![BigUint::from(0u8); n];
    h[0] = BigUint::from(1u8);
    let mut x2 = BigUint::from(2u8);
    let mut x3 = BigUint::from(3u8);
    let mut x5 = BigUint::from(5u8);
    let mut i = 0usize; let mut j = 0usize; let mut k = 0usize;

    // BigUint comparisons are expensive, so do it only as necessary...
    fn min3(x: &BigUint, y: &BigUint, z: &BigUint) -> (usize, BigUint) {
        let (cs, r1) = if y == z { (0x6, y) } 
                        else if y < z { (2, y) } else { (4, z) };
        if x == r1 { (cs | 1, x.clone()) }
        else if x < r1 { (1, x.clone()) } else { (cs, r1.clone()) }
    }

    let mut c = 1;
    while c < n { // satisfy borrow checker with extra blocks: {  }
        let (cs, e1) = { min3(&x2, &x3, &x5) };
        h[c] = e1; // vector now owns the generated value
        if (cs & 1) != 0 { i += 1; x2 = &two * &h[i] }
        if (cs & 2) != 0 { j += 1; x3 = &three * &h[j] }	
        if (cs & 4) != 0 { k += 1; x5 = &five * &h[k] }
        c += 1;
    }

    match h.pop() {
        Some(v) => v,
        _ => panic!("basic_hamming: arg is zero; no elements")
    }
}

fn main() {
    print!("[");
    for (i, h) in (1..21).map(basic_hamming).enumerate() {
        if i != 0 { print!(",") }
        print!(" {}", h)
    }
    println!(" ]");
    println!("{}", basic_hamming(1691));

    let strt = Instant::now();

    let rslt = basic_hamming(1000000);

    let elpsd = strt.elapsed();
    let secs = elpsd.as_secs();
    let millis = (elpsd.subsec_nanos() / 1000000)as u64;
    let dur = secs * 1000 + millis;

    let rs = rslt.to_str_radix(10);
    let mut s = rs.as_str();
    println!("{} digits:", s.len());
        while s.len() > 100 {
            let (f, r) = s.split_at(100);
            s = r;
            println!("{}", f);
        }
        println!("{}", s);

    println!("This last took {} milliseconds", dur);
}
Output:
[ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 36 ]
2125764000
84 digits:
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
This last took 677 milliseconds.

Eliminating duplicate calculations

Much of the time above is wasted doing big integer multiplications that are duplicated elsewhere as in 2 times 3 and 3 times 2, etc. The following code eliminates such duplicate multiplications and reduces the number of comparisons, as follows:

fn nodups_hamming(n: usize) -> BigUint {
    let two = BigUint::from(2u8);
    let three = BigUint::from(3u8);
    let five = BigUint::from(5u8);
    let mut m = vec![BigUint::from(0u8); 1];
    m[0] = BigUint::from(1u8);
    let mut h = vec![BigUint::from(0u8); n];
    h[0] = BigUint::from(1u8);
    if n > 1 {
        m.push(BigUint::from(3u8)); // for initial x53 advance
        h[1] = BigUint::from(2u8); // for initial x532 advance
    }
    let mut x5 = BigUint::from(5u8);
    let mut x53 = BigUint::from(9u8); // 3 times 3 because already merged one step
    let mut mrg = BigUint::from(3u8);
    let mut x532 = BigUint::from(2u8);

    let mut i = 0usize; let mut j = 1usize;
    let mut c = 1usize;
    while c < n { // satisfy borrow checker with extra blocks: {  }
        if &x532 < &mrg { h[c] = x532; i += 1; x532 = &two * &h[i]; }
        else {	h[c] = mrg;
                if &x53 < &x5 { mrg = x53; j += 1; x53 = &three * &m[j]; }
                else { mrg = x5.clone(); x5 = &five * &x5; };
                m.push(mrg.clone()); };
        c += 1;
    }
    match h.pop() {
        Some(v) => v,
        _ => panic!("nodups_hamming: arg is zero; no elements")
    }
}

Substitute the calls to the above code for the calls to "basic_hamming" (three places) in the "main" function above. The output is the same except that the time expended is less (249 milliseconds), for over two and a half times faster.

Much faster logarithmic version with low memory use

The above versions spend much of their time doing BigUint calculations. The below version eliminates much of that time by using integer powers of 2, 3, and 5 representations and all normal integer calculations except for the final conversion to a BitUint for the final result for about a 30 times speed-up.

Another problem is that the above versions use so much memory that they can't compute even the billionth hamming number without running out of memory on a 16 Gigabyte machine. This version greatly reduces the memory use to about O(n^(2/3)) by eliminating no longer required back values in batches so that with about 9 Gigabytes it will calculate the hamming numbers to 1.2e13 (it's limit due to the ranges of the exponents) in a day or so. The code is as follows:

fn log_nodups_hamming(n: u64) -> BigUint {
    if n <= 0 { panic!("nodups_hamming: arg is zero; no elements") }
    if n < 2 { return BigUint::from(1u8) } // trivial case for n == 1
    if n > 1.2e13 as u64 { panic!("log_nodups_hamming: argument too large to guarantee results!") }

    // constants as expanded integers to minimize round-off errors, and
    // reduce execution time using integer operations not float...
    const LAA2: u64 = 35184372088832; // 2.0f64.powi(45)).round() as u64;
    const LBA2: u64 = 55765910372219; // 3.0f64.log2() * 2.0f64.powi(45)).round() as u64;
    const LCA2: u64 = 81695582054030; // 5.0f64.log2() * 2.0f64.powi(45)).round() as u64;

    #[derive(Clone, Copy)]
    struct Logelm { // log representation of an element with only allowable powers
        exp2: u16,
        exp3: u16,
        exp5: u16,
        logr: u64 // log representation used for comparison only - not exact
    }

    impl Logelm {
        fn lte(&self, othr: &Logelm) -> bool {
            if self.logr <= othr.logr { true } else { false }
        }
        fn mul2(&self) -> Logelm {
            Logelm { exp2: self.exp2 + 1, logr: self.logr + LAA2, .. *self }
        }
        fn mul3(&self) -> Logelm {
            Logelm { exp3: self.exp3 + 1, logr: self.logr + LBA2, .. *self }
        }
        fn mul5(&self) -> Logelm {
            Logelm { exp5: self.exp5 + 1, logr: self.logr + LCA2, .. *self }
        }
    }

    let one = Logelm { exp2: 0, exp3: 0, exp5: 0, logr: 0 };
    let mut x532 = one.mul2();
    let mut mrg = one.mul3();
    let mut x53 = one.mul3().mul3(); // advance as mrg has the former value...
    let mut x5 = one.mul5();

    let mut h = Vec::with_capacity(65536); // vec!(one.clone(); 0);
    let mut m = Vec::<Logelm>::with_capacity(65536); // vec!(one.clone(); 0);

    let mut i = 0usize; let mut j = 0usize;
    for _ in 1 .. n {
        let cph = h.capacity();
        if i > cph / 2 { // drain extra unneeded values...
            h.drain(0 .. i);
            i = 0;
        }
        if x532.lte(&mrg) {
            h.push(x532);
            x532 = h[i].mul2();
            i += 1;
        } else {
            h.push(mrg);
            if x53.lte(&x5) {
                mrg = x53;
                x53 = m[j].mul3();
                j += 1;
            } else {
                mrg = x5;
                x5 = x5.mul5();
            }
            let cpm = m.capacity();
            if j > cpm / 2 { // drain extra unneeded values...
                m.drain(0 .. j);
                j = 0;
            }
            m.push(mrg);
        }
    }

    let o = &h[&h.len() - 1];
    let two = BigUint::from(2u8);
    let three = BigUint::from(3u8);
    let five = BigUint::from(5u8);
    let mut ob = BigUint::from(1u8); // convert to BigUint at the end
    for _ in 0 .. o.exp2 { ob = ob * &two }
    for _ in 0 .. o.exp3 { ob = ob * &three }
    for _ in 0 .. o.exp5 { ob = ob * &five }
    ob
}

Again, this function can be used with the same "main" as above and the outputs are the same except that the execution time is only 7 milliseconds. It calculates the hamming number to a billion and just over a second and to one hundred billion in just over 100 seconds - O(n) time complexity. As well as eliminating duplicate calculations and calculating using exponents rather than BitUint operations, it also reduces the time required as compared to other similar algorithms by scaling the logarithms of two, three, and five into 64-bit integers so no floating point operations are required. The scaling is such that round-off errors will not affect the order of results for well past the usable range.

Memory used is greatly reduced to O(n^(2/3)) by draining the arrays of back values no longer required in batches (rather than one by one) so that less time is used. It also saves time by not requiring as many allocations and de-allocations as the draining is done in place, thus making the current capacity of arrays longer usable.

Sequence version

As the task actually asks for a sequence of Hamming numbers, any of the above three solutions can easily be adapted to output an Iterator sequence; in this case the last fastest one is converted as follows:

extern crate num; // requires dependency on the num library
use num::bigint::BigUint;

use std::time::Instant;

fn log_nodups_hamming_iter() -> Box<Iterator<Item = (u16, u16, u16)>> {
    // constants as expanded integers to minimize round-off errors, and
    // reduce execution time using integer operations not float...
    const LAA2: u64 = 35184372088832; // 2.0f64.powi(45)).round() as u64;
    const LBA2: u64 = 55765910372219; // 3.0f64.log2() * 2.0f64.powi(45)).round() as u64;
    const LCA2: u64 = 81695582054030; // 5.0f64.log2() * 2.0f64.powi(45)).round() as u64;

    #[derive(Clone, Copy)]
    struct Logelm { // log representation of an element with only allowable powers
        exp2: u16,
        exp3: u16,
        exp5: u16,
        logr: u64 // log representation used for comparison only - not exact
    }
    impl Logelm {
        fn lte(&self, othr: &Logelm) -> bool {
            if self.logr <= othr.logr { true } else { false }
        }
        fn mul2(&self) -> Logelm {
            Logelm { exp2: self.exp2 + 1, logr: self.logr + LAA2, .. *self }
        }
        fn mul3(&self) -> Logelm {
            Logelm { exp3: self.exp3 + 1, logr: self.logr + LBA2, .. *self }
        }
        fn mul5(&self) -> Logelm {
            Logelm { exp5: self.exp5 + 1, logr: self.logr + LCA2, .. *self }
        }
    }

    let one = Logelm { exp2: 0, exp3: 0, exp5: 0, logr: 0 };
    let mut x532 = one.mul2();
    let mut mrg = one.mul3();
    let mut x53 = one.mul3().mul3(); // advance as mrg has the former value...
    let mut x5 = one.mul5();

    let mut h = Vec::with_capacity(65536);
    let mut m = Vec::<Logelm>::with_capacity(65536);

    let mut i = 0usize; let mut j = 0usize;
    Box::new((0u64 .. ).map(move |it| if it < 1 { (0, 0, 0) } else {
        let cph = h.capacity();
        if i > cph / 2 {
            h.drain(0 .. i);
            i = 0;
        }
        if x532.lte(&mrg) {
            h.push(x532);
            x532 = h[i].mul2();
            i += 1;
        } else {
            h.push(mrg);
            if x53.lte(&x5) {
                mrg = x53;
                x53 = m[j].mul3();
                j += 1;
            } else {
                mrg = x5;
                x5 = x5.mul5();
            }
            let cpm = m.capacity();
            if j > cpm / 2 {
                m.drain(0 .. j);
                j = 0;
            }
            m.push(mrg);
        }
        let o = &h[&h.len() - 1];
        (o.exp2, o.exp3, o.exp5)
    }))
}

fn convert_log2big(o: (u16, u16, u16)) -> BigUint {
    let two = BigUint::from(2u8);
    let three = BigUint::from(3u8);
    let five = BigUint::from(5u8);
    let (x2, x3, x5) = o;
    let mut ob = BigUint::from(1u8); // convert to BigUint at the end
    for _ in 0 .. x2 { ob = ob * &two }
    for _ in 0 .. x3 { ob = ob * &three }
    for _ in 0 .. x5 { ob = ob * &five }
    ob
}

fn main() {
    print!("[");
    for (i, h) in log_nodups_hamming_iter().take(20).map(convert_log2big).enumerate() {
        if i != 0 { print!(",") }
        print!(" {}", h)
    }
    println!(" ]");
    println!("{}", convert_log2big(log_nodups_hamming_iter().take(1691).last().unwrap()));

    let strt = Instant::now();
	
//  let rslt = convert_log2big(log_nodups_hamming_iter().take(1000000000).last().unwrap());
    let mut it = log_nodups_hamming_iter().into_iter();
    for _ in 0 .. 100-1 { // a little faster; less one level of iteration
        let _ = it.next();
    }
    let rslt = convert_log2big(it.next().unwrap());

    let elpsd = strt.elapsed();
    let secs = elpsd.as_secs();
    let millis = (elpsd.subsec_nanos() / 1000000)as u64;
    let dur = secs * 1000 + millis;

    println!("2^{} times 3^{} times 5^{}", rslt.0, rslt.1, rslt.2);
    let rs = convert_log2big(rslt).to_str_radix(10);
    let mut s = rs.as_str();
    println!("{} digits:", s.len());
    let lg3 = 3.0f64.log2();
    let lg5 = 5.0f64.log2();
    let lg = (rslt.0 as f64 + rslt.1 as f64 * lg3
	         + rslt.2 as f64 * lg5) * 2.0f64.log10();
    println!("Approximately {}E+{}", 10.0f64.powf(lg.fract()), lg.trunc());
    if s.len() <= 10000 {
        while s.len() > 100 {
            let (f, r) = s.split_at(100);
            s = r;
            println!("{}", f);
        }
        println!("{}", s);
    }

    println!("This last took {} milliseconds.", dur);
}
Output:
[ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 36 ]
2125764000
2^55 times 3^47 times 5^64
84 digits:
Approximately 5.193127804483804E+83
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
This last took 17 milliseconds.

The above final output is the same as the last one, but the function is called differently; also note that it is somewhat slower than the last version due to the extra function calls required to enumerate over an Iterator. It can enumerate the Hamming numbers up to a billion in about 20 seconds instead of the about ten seconds for the last version - about O(n) time complexity, and has the same O(n^(2/3)) space complexity as the last version.

Functional sequence version avoiding duplicates

It has been said by some that Rust is basically a functional language; however that isn't quite true in several respects, at least as per the following:

  1. It does not guarantee tail call optimization for functions, thus sometimes requiring imperative forms of code to produce that effect.
  2. It does not have currying or partial application of function arguments without using kludges of nested function/closure calls.
  3. move closures cannot use recursive shared values without using interior mutability inside a reference counted value (required here)
  4. Closures are not recursive without using a trick involving shared state reference counted values (demonstrated here).
  5. It currently does not have a standard library implementation of a lazily computed non-static value (required to implement a Lazy List, and
  6. It accordingly is not as easy as in most other languages to implement Co-Inductive Streams or (also memoized) Lazy Lists (a form of Lazy List as is required here).

Many of these come about due to the Rust memory model where pieces of programs "own" data and its disposal but can assign references to other pieces of code (with limits if mutability as required), instead of the Garbage Collected model used by most other functional languages where variables are owned by the system and program code just uses references to that data other than for primitives which are owned by whoever uses them.

The lack of the Lazy type and thus the Lazy List type is partly due to Rust's still being relatively unstable, as Lazy requires a "thunk" (a zero argument move closure acting on owned data - FnOnce in Rust), and in Rust these must be boxed (allocated on the heap) to be usable. However, the new versions of Rust allow boxing of the FnOnce closure so it can be used as a Thunk.

Jeremy Reems had implemented Lazy and also LazyList, but they haven't been maintained for many years and don't compile. According, I have implemented enough of this functionality as required by this algorithm, as per the following code (tested on Rust version 1.53.0, run in --release mode):

Translation of: Haskell
Works with: Rust 1.53.0
extern crate num;
use num::bigint::BigUint;
 
use std::rc::Rc;
use std::cell::{UnsafeCell, RefCell};
use std::mem;
 
use std::time::Instant;
 
// implementation of Thunk closure here...

pub struct Thunk<'a, R>(Box<dyn FnOnce() -> R + 'a>);
 
impl<'a, R: 'a> Thunk<'a, R> {
    #[inline(always)]
    fn new<F: 'a + FnOnce() -> R>(func: F) -> Thunk<'a, R> {
        Thunk(Box::new(func))
    }
    #[inline(always)]
    fn invoke(self) -> R { self.0() }
}
 
// actual Lazy implementation starts here...
 
use self::LazyState::*;
 
pub struct Lazy<'a, T: 'a>(UnsafeCell<LazyState<'a, T>>);
 
enum LazyState<'a, T: 'a> {
    Unevaluated(Thunk<'a, T>),
    EvaluationInProgress,
    Evaluated(T)
}
 
impl<'a, T: 'a> Lazy<'a, T>{
    #[inline]
    pub fn new<'b, F>(thunk: F) -> Lazy<'b, T>
            where F: 'b + FnOnce() -> T {
        Lazy(UnsafeCell::new(Unevaluated(Thunk::new(thunk))))
    }
    #[inline]
    pub fn evaluated(val: T) -> Lazy<'a, T> {
        Lazy(UnsafeCell::new(Evaluated(val)))
    }
    #[inline]
    fn force<'b>(&'b self) { // not thread-safe
        unsafe {
            match *self.0.get() {
                Evaluated(_) => return, // nothing required; already Evaluated
                EvaluationInProgress =>
                    panic!("Lazy::force called recursively!!!"),
                _ => () // need to do following something else if Unevaluated...
            } // following eliminates recursive race; drops neither on replace:
            match mem::replace(&mut *self.0.get(), EvaluationInProgress) {
                Unevaluated(thnk) => { // Thunk can't call force on same Lazy
                    *self.0.get() = Evaluated(thnk.invoke());
                },
                _ => unreachable!() // already took care of other cases above.
            }
        }
    }
    #[inline]
    pub fn value<'b>(&'b self) -> &'b T {
        self.force(); // evaluatate if not evealutated
        match unsafe { &*self.0.get() } {
            &Evaluated(ref v) => v, // return value
            _ => { unreachable!() } // previous force guarantees Evaluated
        }
    }
    #[inline] // consumes the object to produce the value
    pub fn unwrap<'b>(self) -> T where T: 'b {
        self.force(); // evaluatate if not evealutated
        match { self.0.into_inner() } {
            Evaluated(v) => v,
            _ => unreachable!() // previous code guarantees Evaluated
        }
    }
}
 
// now for immutable persistent shareable (memoized) LazyList via Lazy above...
 
type RcLazyListNode<'a, T> = Rc<Lazy<'a, LazyList<'a, T>>>;
 
use self::LazyList::*;
 
#[derive(Clone)]
enum LazyList<'a, T: 'a + Clone> {
    /// The Empty List
    Empty,
    /// A list with one member and possibly another list.
    Cons(T, RcLazyListNode<'a, T>)
}
 
impl<'a, T: 'a + Clone> LazyList<'a, T> {
    #[inline]
    pub fn cons<F>(v: T, cntf: F) -> LazyList<'a, T>
            where F: 'a + FnOnce() -> LazyList<'a, T> {
        Cons(v, Rc::new(Lazy::new(cntf)))
    }
    #[inline]
    pub fn head<'b>(&'b self) -> &'b T {
        if let Cons(ref hd, _) = *self { return hd }
        panic!("LazyList::head called on an Empty LazyList!!!")
    }
/* // not used
    #[inline]
    pub fn tail<'b>(&'b self) -> &'b Lazy<'a, LazyList<'a, T>> {
        if let Cons(_, ref rlln) = *self { return &*rlln }
        panic!("LazyList::tail called on an Empty LazyList!!!")
    }
*/
    #[inline]
    pub fn unwrap(self) -> (T, RcLazyListNode<'a, T>) { // consumes the object
        if let Cons(hd, rlln) = self { return (hd, rlln) }
        panic!("LazyList::unwrap called on an Empty LazyList!!!")
    }
}
 
impl<'a, T: 'a + Clone> Iterator for LazyList<'a, T> {
    type Item = T;
    #[inline]
    fn next(&mut self) -> Option<Self::Item> {
        if let Empty = *self { return None }
        let oldll = mem::replace(self, Empty);
        let (hd, rlln) = oldll.unwrap();
        let mut newll = rlln.value().clone();
        // self now contains tail, newll contains the Empty
        mem::swap(self, &mut newll);
        Some(hd)
    }
}
 
// implements worker wrapper recursion closures using shared RcMFn variable...
 
type RcMFn<'a, T> = Rc<UnsafeCell<Box<dyn FnMut(T) -> T + 'a>>>;
 
// #[derive(Clone)]
// struct RcMFn<'a, T: 'a>(Rc<UnsafeCell<Box<FnMut() -> T + 'a>>>);
 
trait RcMFnMethods<'a, T> {
    fn create<F: FnMut(T) -> T + 'a>(v: F) -> RcMFn<'a, T>;
    fn invoke(&self, v: T) -> T;
    fn set<F: FnMut(T) -> T + 'a>(&self, v: F);
}
 
impl<'a, T: 'a> RcMFnMethods<'a, T> for RcMFn<'a, T> {
    // creates new value wrapper...
    fn create<F: FnMut(T) -> T + 'a>(v: F) -> RcMFn<'a, T> {
        Rc::new(UnsafeCell::new(Box::new(v)))
    }
    #[inline(always)] // needs to be faster to be worth it
    fn invoke(&self, v: T) -> T {
        unsafe { (*(*(*self).get()))(v) }
    }
    fn set<F: FnMut(T) -> T + 'a>(&self, v: F) {
        unsafe { *self.get() = Box::new(v); }
    }
}
 
type RcMVar<T> = Rc<RefCell<T>>;
 
trait RcMVarMethods<T> {
    fn create(v: T) -> Self;
    fn get(self: &Self) -> T;
    fn set(self: &Self, v: T);
}
 
impl<T: Clone> RcMVarMethods<T> for RcMVar<T> {
    fn create(v: T) -> RcMVar<T> { // creates new value wrapped in RcMVar
        Rc::new(RefCell::new(v))
    }
    #[inline]
    fn get(&self) -> T {
        self.borrow().clone()
    }
    fn set(&self, v: T) {
        *self.borrow_mut() = v;
    }
}
 
// finally what the task objective requires...
 
fn hammings() -> Box<dyn Iterator<Item = Rc<BigUint>>> {
    type LL<'a> = LazyList<'a, Rc<BigUint>>;
    fn merge<'a>(x: LL<'a>, y: LL<'a>) -> LL<'a> {
        let lte = { x.head() <= y.head() }; // private context for borrow
        if lte {
            let (hdx, tlx) = x.unwrap();
            LL::cons(hdx, move || merge(tlx.value().clone(), y))
        } else {
            let (hdy, tly) = y.unwrap();
            LL::cons(hdy, move || merge(x, tly.value().clone()))
        }
    }
    fn smult<'a>(m: BigUint, s: LL<'a>) -> LL<'a> { // like map m * but faster
        let smlt = RcMFn::create(move |ss: LL<'a>| ss);
        let csmlt = smlt.clone();
        smlt.set(move |ss: LL<'a>| {
            let (hd, tl) = ss.unwrap();
            let ccsmlt = csmlt.clone();
            LL::cons(Rc::new(&m * &*hd),
                             move || ccsmlt.invoke(tl.value().clone()))
        });
        smlt.invoke(s)
    }
    fn u<'a>(s: LL<'a>, n: usize) -> LL<'a> {
        let nb = BigUint::from(n);
        let rslt = RcMVar::create(Empty);
        let crslt = rslt.clone(); // same interior data...
        let cll = LL::cons(Rc::new(BigUint::from(1u8)),
                           move || crslt.get()); // gets future value
        // below sets future value for above closure...
        rslt.set(if let Empty =
            s { smult(nb, cll) } else { merge(s, smult(nb, cll)) });
        rslt.get()
    }
    fn rll<'a>() -> LL<'a> { [5, 3, 2].iter()
                                .fold(Empty, |ll, n| u(ll, *n) ) }
    let hmng = LL::cons(Rc::new(BigUint::from(1u8)), move || rll());
    Box::new(hmng.into_iter())
}
 
// and the required test outputs...
 
fn main() {
    print!("[");
    for (i, h) in hammings().take(20).enumerate() {
        if i != 0 { print!(",") }
        print!(" {}", h)
    }
    println!(" ]");
 
    println!("{}", hammings().take(1691).last().unwrap());
 
    let strt = Instant::now();
 
    let rslt = hammings().take(1000000).last().unwrap();
 
    let elpsd = strt.elapsed();
    let secs = elpsd.as_secs();
    let millis = (elpsd.subsec_nanos() / 1000000)as u64;
    let dur = secs * 1000 + millis;
 
    println!("{}", rslt);
 
    println!("This last took {} milliseconds.", dur);
}

As can be seen, there is little code necessary for the "hammings" and "main" functions if the rest were available in libraries, as they really should be.

Output:
[ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 36 ]
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
This last took 172 milliseconds.

In order to run this fast. the BigUint LazyList values are wrapped in a reference counted heap wrapper to make it more efficient for cloning operations as necessary to extract interior values from the nested RcLazyListNode structure.

This is reasonably fast, with it a little slower than some languages, but a fairly high percentage of the time is spent on LazyList processing. This is likely due to the many small heap allocations and de-allocations required as well as the time required to process all of the reference counting. At that, on the same machine (Intel Sky Lake i5-6500 @ 3.6 Gigahertz - turbo when single-threaded as here), it is still about eight times faster than F# running the same functional algorithm, although much more "wordy" as also much more "wordy" than [the Haskell code from which it was translated](https://rosettacode.org/wiki/Hamming_numbers#Avoiding_generation_of_duplicates). However, it is just a little slower than Java JVM based languages (Scala, Kotlin, Clojure, etc.) and about twice slower than Haskell, likely due to those languages having very efficient memory management using memory pools for frequent small-byte-sizes per allocation/collection as for such functional algorithms, and as well not requiring reference counting due to garbage collection (although sometimes this is about a wash, as garbage collection adds its own overheads).

So Rust can be used to implement purely functional algorithms, but it isn't the best at it especially as to conciseness of code.

The other (and likely biggest) wart with implementing such functional algorithms in Rust as here is that when there are cyclic references as here, then the reference counting memory management can't handle automatic reclaiming of memory so as to produce a memory leak, which the above code has; As there is no easy way (or perhaps no way) to demote/downgrade those references to being "weak" references for this algorithm, one likely wouldn't be able to use the above method in "production" code and would have to revert to a more imperative algorithm. The memory leaks don't matter for the above code, which runs and exits taking the leaks away on program termination, it would be a problem if using in a library that would be called from a running applications many many times.

Functional sequence version avoiding duplicates, increasing speed using logarithms

Although we can't eliminate the memory leak of the ahove code, we can increase the speed by eliminating the many BigUint calculations and also reduce the memory used (and thus leaked) by using a LogRep structure instead of the variable length container where the contained BigUint gets constantly bigger with increasing range as per the following code:

Works with: Rust 1.53.0
extern crate num;
use num::bigint::BigUint;

use core::cmp::Ordering;
 
use std::rc::Rc;
use std::cell::{UnsafeCell, RefCell};
use std::mem;
 
use std::time::Instant;
 
// implementation of Thunk closure here...

pub struct Thunk<'a, R>(Box<dyn FnOnce() -> R + 'a>);
 
impl<'a, R: 'a> Thunk<'a, R> {
    #[inline(always)]
    fn new<F: 'a + FnOnce() -> R>(func: F) -> Thunk<'a, R> {
        Thunk(Box::new(func))
    }
    #[inline(always)]
    fn invoke(self) -> R { self.0() }
}
 
// actual Lazy implementation starts here...
 
use self::LazyState::*;
 
pub struct Lazy<'a, T: 'a>(UnsafeCell<LazyState<'a, T>>);
 
enum LazyState<'a, T: 'a> {
    Unevaluated(Thunk<'a, T>),
    EvaluationInProgress,
    Evaluated(T)
}
 
impl<'a, T: 'a> Lazy<'a, T>{
    #[inline]
    pub fn new<'b, F>(thunk: F) -> Lazy<'b, T>
            where F: 'b + FnOnce() -> T {
        Lazy(UnsafeCell::new(Unevaluated(Thunk::new(thunk))))
    }
    #[inline]
    pub fn evaluated(val: T) -> Lazy<'a, T> {
        Lazy(UnsafeCell::new(Evaluated(val)))
    }
    #[inline]
    fn force<'b>(&'b self) { // not thread-safe
        unsafe {
            match *self.0.get() {
                Evaluated(_) => return, // nothing required; already Evaluated
                EvaluationInProgress =>
                    panic!("Lazy::force called recursively!!!"),
                _ => () // need to do following something else if Unevaluated...
            } // following eliminates recursive race; drops neither on replace:
            match mem::replace(&mut *self.0.get(), EvaluationInProgress) {
                Unevaluated(thnk) => { // Thunk can't call force on same Lazy
                    *self.0.get() = Evaluated(thnk.invoke());
                },
                _ => unreachable!() // already took care of other cases above.
            }
        }
    }
    #[inline]
    pub fn value<'b>(&'b self) -> &'b T {
        self.force(); // evaluatate if not evealutated
        match unsafe { &*self.0.get() } {
            &Evaluated(ref v) => v, // return value
            _ => { unreachable!() } // previous force guarantees Evaluated
        }
    }
    #[inline] // consumes the object to produce the value
    pub fn unwrap<'b>(self) -> T where T: 'b {
        self.force(); // evaluatate if not evealutated
        match { self.0.into_inner() } {
            Evaluated(v) => v,
            _ => unreachable!() // previous code guarantees Evaluated
        }
    }
}
 
// now for immutable persistent shareable (memoized) LazyList via Lazy above...
 
type RcLazyListNode<'a, T> = Rc<Lazy<'a, LazyList<'a, T>>>;
 
use self::LazyList::*;
 
#[derive(Clone)]
enum LazyList<'a, T: 'a + Clone> {
    /// The Empty List
    Empty,
    /// A list with one member and possibly another list.
    Cons(T, RcLazyListNode<'a, T>)
}
 
impl<'a, T: 'a + Clone> LazyList<'a, T> {
    #[inline]
    pub fn cons<F>(v: T, cntf: F) -> LazyList<'a, T>
            where F: 'a + FnOnce() -> LazyList<'a, T> {
        Cons(v, Rc::new(Lazy::new(cntf)))
    }
    #[inline]
    pub fn head<'b>(&'b self) -> &'b T {
        if let Cons(ref hd, _) = *self { return hd }
        panic!("LazyList::head called on an Empty LazyList!!!")
    }
    #[inline]
    pub fn unwrap(self) -> (T, RcLazyListNode<'a, T>) { // consumes the object
        if let Cons(hd, rlln) = self { return (hd, rlln) }
        panic!("LazyList::unwrap called on an Empty LazyList!!!")
    }
}
 
impl<'a, T: 'a + Clone> Iterator for LazyList<'a, T> {
    type Item = T;
    #[inline]
    fn next(&mut self) -> Option<Self::Item> {
        if let Empty = *self { return None }
        let oldll = mem::replace(self, Empty);
        let (hd, rlln) = oldll.unwrap();
        let mut newll = rlln.value().clone();
        // self now contains tail, newll contains the Empty
        mem::swap(self, &mut newll);
        Some(hd)
    }
}
 
// implements worker wrapper recursion closures using shared RcMFn variable...
 
type RcMFn<'a, T> = Rc<UnsafeCell<Box<dyn FnMut(T) -> T + 'a>>>;
 
trait RcMFnMethods<'a, T> {
    fn create<F: FnMut(T) -> T + 'a>(v: F) -> RcMFn<'a, T>;
    fn invoke(&self, v: T) -> T;
    fn set<F: FnMut(T) -> T + 'a>(&self, v: F);
}
 
impl<'a, T: 'a> RcMFnMethods<'a, T> for RcMFn<'a, T> {
    // creates new value wrapper...
    fn create<F: FnMut(T) -> T + 'a>(v: F) -> RcMFn<'a, T> {
        Rc::new(UnsafeCell::new(Box::new(v)))
    }
    #[inline(always)] // needs to be faster to be worth it
    fn invoke(&self, v: T) -> T {
        unsafe { (*(*(*self).get()))(v) }
    }
    fn set<F: FnMut(T) -> T + 'a>(&self, v: F) {
        unsafe { *self.get() = Box::new(v); }
    }
}
 
type RcMVar<T> = Rc<RefCell<T>>;
 
trait RcMVarMethods<T> {
    fn create(v: T) -> Self;
    fn get(self: &Self) -> T;
    fn set(self: &Self, v: T);
}
 
impl<T: Clone> RcMVarMethods<T> for RcMVar<T> {
    fn create(v: T) -> RcMVar<T> { // creates new value wrapped in RcMVar
        Rc::new(RefCell::new(v))
    }
    #[inline]
    fn get(&self) -> T {
        self.borrow().clone()
    }
    fn set(&self, v: T) {
        *self.borrow_mut() = v;
    }
}
 
// finally what the task objective requires...
 
#[derive(Clone)]
struct LogRep {lg: f64, x2: u32, x3: u32, x5: u32}

const ONE: LogRep = LogRep { lg: 0f64, x2: 0u32, x3: 0u32, x5: 0u32 };
const LB3: f64 = 1.5849625007211563f64; // log base two of 3f64
const LB5: f64 = 2.321928094887362f64; // log base two of 5f64

impl PartialEq for LogRep {
    #[inline]
    fn eq(&self, other: &Self) -> bool {
        self.lg == other.lg
    }
}

impl Eq for LogRep {}

impl PartialOrd for LogRep {
    #[inline]
    fn partial_cmp(&self, other: &Self) -> Option<Ordering> {
        self.lg.partial_cmp(&other.lg)
    }
}

trait LogRepMults {
    fn mult2(lr: LogRep) -> LogRep;
    fn mult3(lr: LogRep) -> LogRep;
    fn mult5(lr: LogRep) -> LogRep;
}

impl LogRepMults for LogRep {
    #[inline]
    fn mult2(lr: LogRep) -> LogRep {
        LogRep { lg: lr.lg + 1f64, x2: lr.x2 + 1, x3: lr.x3, x5: lr.x5 }
    }
    #[inline]
    fn mult3(lr: LogRep) -> LogRep {
        LogRep { lg: lr.lg + LB3, x2: lr.x2, x3: lr.x3 + 1, x5: lr.x5 }
    }
    #[inline]
    fn mult5(lr: LogRep) -> LogRep {
        LogRep { lg: lr.lg + LB5, x2: lr.x2, x3: lr.x3, x5: lr.x5 + 1 }
    }
}

fn logrep2biguint(lr: LogRep) -> BigUint {
    let two = BigUint::from(2u8);
    let three = BigUint::from(3u8);
    let five = BigUint::from(5u8);
    fn xpnd(vm: u32, n: BigUint) -> BigUint {
        let mut rslt = BigUint::from(1u8);
        let mut v = vm; let mut bsm = n;
        while v > 0u32 {
            if v & 1u32 != 0u32 { rslt = rslt * &bsm }
            bsm = &bsm.clone() * bsm; v = v >> 1;
        }
        rslt
    }
    xpnd(lr.x2, two) * xpnd(lr.x3, three) * xpnd(lr.x5, five)
}

fn hammings() -> Box<dyn Iterator<Item = LogRep>> {
    type LR = LogRep;
    type LL<'a> = LazyList<'a, LR>;
    fn merge<'a>(x: LL<'a>, y: LL<'a>) -> LL<'a> {
        let lte = { x.head() <= y.head() }; // private context for borrow
        if lte {
            let (hdx, tlx) = x.unwrap();
            LL::cons(hdx, move || merge(tlx.value().clone(), y))
        } else {
            let (hdy, tly) = y.unwrap();
            LL::cons(hdy, move || merge(x, tly.value().clone()))
        }
    }
    fn smult<'a>(m: fn(LogRep) -> LogRep, s: LL<'a>) -> LL<'a> { // like map m * but faster
        let smlt = RcMFn::create(move |ss: LL<'a>| ss);
        let csmlt = smlt.clone();
        smlt.set(move |ss: LL<'a>| {
            let (hd, tl) = ss.unwrap();
            let ccsmlt = csmlt.clone();
            LL::cons(m(hd), move || ccsmlt.invoke(tl.value().clone()))
        });
        smlt.invoke(s)
    }
    fn u<'a>(s: LL<'a>, f: fn(LogRep) -> LogRep) -> LL<'a> {
        let rslt = RcMVar::create(Empty);
        let crslt = rslt.clone(); // same interior data...
        let cll = LL::cons(ONE, move || crslt.get()); // gets future value
        // below sets future value for above closure...
        rslt.set(if let Empty =
            s { smult(f, cll) } else { merge(s, smult(f, cll)) });
        rslt.get()
    }
    fn rll<'a>() -> LL<'a> { [LR::mult5, LR::mult3, LR::mult2].iter()
                                .fold(Empty, |ll, mf| u(ll, *mf) ) }
    let hmng = LL::cons(ONE, move || rll());
    Box::new(hmng.into_iter())
}
 
// and the required test outputs...
 
fn main() {
    print!("[");
    for (i, h) in hammings().take(20).enumerate() {
        if i != 0 { print!(",") }
        print!(" {}", logrep2biguint(h))
    }
    println!(" ]");
 
    println!("{}", logrep2biguint(hammings().take(1691).last().unwrap()));
 
    let strt = Instant::now();
 
    let rslt = hammings().take(1000000).last().unwrap();
 
    let elpsd = strt.elapsed();
    let secs = elpsd.as_secs();
    let millis = (elpsd.subsec_nanos() / 1000000)as u64;
    let dur = secs * 1000 + millis;
 
    println!("{}", logrep2biguint(rslt));
 
    println!("This last took {} milliseconds.", dur);
}
Output:
[ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 36 ]
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
This last took 122 milliseconds.

As can be seen, the above version takes about two thirds of the time as the previous version running on the same Intel Skylake i5-6500 - although it still has a memory leak, the size of the leak for a given range will be many times smaller. It still isn't as fast as Haskell running the same algorithm, but it is only about 30% slower and about as fast as most other languages that compile their code to a running executable.

Very fast sequence version using imperative code (mutable vectors) and logarithmic approximations for sorting

Most of the remaining execution time for the above version is due to the many allocations/deallocations used in implementing the functional lazy list sequence; the following code avoids that overhead by memoizing the pst values using linear vectors with the head and tail values marked by tracking indices:

Translation of: Nim
extern crate num;
use num::bigint::BigInt;

use core::fmt::Display;
use std::time::Instant;
use std::iter;

const NUM_ELEMENTS: usize = 1000000;

const LB2_2: f64 = 1.0_f64; // log2(2.0)
const LB2_3: f64 = 1.5849625007211563_f64; // log2(3.0)
const LB2_5: f64 = 2.321928094887362_f64; // log2(5.0)

#[derive (Clone)]
struct LogRep {
    lr: f64,
    x2: u32,
    x3: u32,
    x5: u32,
}
impl LogRep {
    fn int_value(&self) -> BigInt {
        BigInt::from(2).pow(self.x2) * BigInt::from(3).pow(self.x3) * BigInt::from(5).pow(self.x5)
    }

    #[inline(always)]
    fn mul2(&self) -> Self {
        LogRep {
            lr: self.lr + LB2_2,
            x2: self.x2 + 1,
            x3: self.x3,
            x5: self.x5,
        }
    }

    #[inline(always)]
    fn mul3(&self) -> Self {
        LogRep {
            lr: self.lr + LB2_3,
            x2: self.x2,
            x3: self.x3 + 1,
            x5: self.x5,
        }
    }

    #[inline(always)]
    fn mul5(&self) -> Self {
        LogRep {
            lr: self.lr + LB2_5,
            x2: self.x2,
            x3: self.x3,
            x5: self.x5 + 1,
        }
    }

}

impl Display for LogRep {
    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut std::fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> std::fmt::Result {
        let val = self.int_value();
        let x2 = self.x2;
        let x3 = self.x3;
        let x5 = self.x5;
        write!(f, "[{x2} {x3} {x5}]=>{val}")
    }
}

const ONE: LogRep = LogRep { lr: 0.0, x2: 0, x3: 0, x5: 0 };
struct LogRepImperativeIterator {
    s2: Vec<LogRep>,
    s3: Vec<LogRep>,
    s5: LogRep,
    mrg: LogRep,
    s2i: usize,
    s3i: usize,
}
impl LogRepImperativeIterator {
    pub fn new() -> Self {
        LogRepImperativeIterator {
            s2: vec![ONE.mul2()],
            s3: vec![ONE.mul3()],
            s5: ONE.mul5(),
            mrg: ONE.mul3(),
            s2i: 0,
            s3i: 0,
        }
    }

    fn iter(&self) -> impl Iterator<Item = LogRep> {
        iter::once(ONE).chain(LogRepImperativeIterator::new())
    }
}
impl Iterator for LogRepImperativeIterator {
    type Item = LogRep;

    #[inline(always)]
    fn next(&mut self) -> Option<Self::Item> {
        if self.s2i + self.s2i >= self.s2.len() {
            self.s2.drain(0..self.s2i);
            self.s2i = 0;
        }
        let result: LogRep;
        if self.s2[self.s2i].lr < self.mrg.lr {
            self.s2.push(self.s2[self.s2i].mul2());
            result = self.s2[self.s2i].clone(); self.s2i += 1;
        } else {
            if self.s3i + self.s3i >= self.s3.len() {
                self.s3.drain(0..self.s3i);
                self.s3i = 0;
            }

            result = self.mrg.clone();
            self.s2.push(self.mrg.mul2());
            self.s3.push(self.mrg.mul3());

            self.s3i += 1;
            if self.s3[self.s3i].lr < self.s5.lr {
                self.mrg = self.s3[self.s3i].clone();
            } else {
                self.mrg = self.s5.clone();
                self.s5 = self.s5.mul5();
                self.s3i -= 1;
            }
        };

        Some(result)
    }
}

fn main() {
    LogRepImperativeIterator::new().iter().take(20)
        .for_each(&|h: LogRep| print!("{} ", h.int_value()));
    println!();

    println!("{} ", LogRepImperativeIterator::new().iter()
                        .take(1691).last().unwrap().int_value());

    let t0 = Instant::now();
    let rslt = LogRepImperativeIterator::new().iter()
                   .take(NUM_ELEMENTS).last().unwrap();
    let elpsd = t0.elapsed().as_micros() as f64;

    println!("{}", rslt.int_value());
    println!("This took {} microseconds for {} elements!", elpsd, NUM_ELEMENTS)
}
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 
2125764000 
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
This took 6517 microseconds for 1000000 elements!

The code above is almost twenty times faster than the previous functional lazy list sequence code due to not losing the time for the many small allocations/deallocations of small heap (reference counted) objects and not having recursive references, also it does not leak memory. This version can calculate the billionth Hamming number in about 8.1 seconds.

Extremely fast non-sequence version by calculation of top band of Hamming numbers

One might ask "What could possibly be done to further speed up finding Hamming numbers?": the answer is quite a lot, but one has to dump the ability to iterate a sequence as that depends on being able to refer to past calculated values by back pointers to the memorized O(n^(2/3)) arrays or lists and thus quite large amounts of memory. If one just wants to find very large Hamming numbers individually, one looks to the [mathematical analysis of Hamming/regular numbers on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_number) and finds there is quite an exact relationship between 'n', the sequence number, and the logarithmic magnitude of the resulting Hamming number, and that the error term is directly proportional to the logarithm of that output number. This means that only the band of Hamming values as wide of this error and including the estimated value need to be generated, and that we need only iterate over two of the three prime exponents, thus O(n^(2/3)) time complexity and O(n^(1/3)) space complexity. The following code was adapted from [an article in DDJ](http://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/hamming-problem/228700538) and the Haskell code with the further refinements to decrease the memory requirements as described above:

Translation of: Haskell
extern crate num; // requires dependency on the num library
use num::bigint::BigUint;

use std::time::Instant;

fn nth_hamming(n: u64) -> (u32, u32, u32) {
    if n < 2 {
        if n <= 0 { panic!("nth_hamming: argument is zero; no elements") }
        return (0, 0, 0) // trivial case for n == 1
    }

    let lg3 = 3.0f64.ln() / 2.0f64.ln(); // log base 2 of 3
    let lg5 = 5.0f64.ln() / 2.0f64.ln(); // log base 2 of 5
    let fctr = 6.0f64 * lg3 * lg5;
    let crctn = 30.0f64.sqrt().ln() / 2.0f64.ln(); // log base 2 of sqrt 30
    let lgest = (fctr * n as f64).powf(1.0f64/3.0f64)
                    - crctn; // from WP formula
    let frctn = if n < 1000000000 { 0.509f64 } else { 0.105f64 };
    let lghi = (fctr * (n as f64 + frctn * lgest)).powf(1.0f64/3.0f64)
                    - crctn; // calculate hi log limit based on log(N) - WP article
    let lglo = 2.0f64 * lgest - lghi; // and a lower limit of the upper "band"
    let mut count = 0; // need to use extended precision, might go over
    let mut bnd = Vec::with_capacity(0);
    let klmt = (lghi / lg5) as u32 + 1;
    for k in 0 .. klmt { // i, j, k values can be just u32 values
        let p = k as f64 * lg5;
        let jlmt = ((lghi - p) / lg3) as u32 + 1;
        for j in 0 .. jlmt {
            let q = p + j as f64 * lg3;
            let ir = lghi - q;
            let lg = q + (ir as u32) as f64; // current log value (estimated)
            count += ir as u64 + 1;
            if lg >= lglo {
                bnd.push((lg, (ir as u32, j, k)))
            }
        }
    }
    if n > count { panic!("nth_hamming: band high estimate is too low!") };
    let ndx = (count - n) as usize;
    if ndx >= bnd.len() { panic!("nth_hamming: band low estimate is too high!") };
    bnd.sort_by(|a, b| b.0.partial_cmp(&a.0).unwrap()); // sort decreasing order

    bnd[ndx].1
}

fn convert_log2big(o: (u32, u32, u32)) -> BigUint {
    let two = BigUint::from(2u8);
    let three = BigUint::from(3u8);
    let five = BigUint::from(5u8);
    let (x2, x3, x5) = o;
    let mut ob = BigUint::from(1u8); // convert to BigUint at the end
    for _ in 0 .. x2 { ob = ob * &two }
    for _ in 0 .. x3 { ob = ob * &three }
    for _ in 0 .. x5 { ob = ob * &five }
    ob
}

fn main() {
    print!("[");
    for (i, h) in (1 .. 21).map(nth_hamming).enumerate() {
        if i != 0 { print!(",") }
        print!(" {}", convert_log2big(h))
    }
    println!(" ]");
    println!("{}", convert_log2big(nth_hamming(1691)));

    let strt = Instant::now();

    let rslt = nth_hamming(1000000);

    let elpsd = strt.elapsed();
    let secs = elpsd.as_secs();
    let millis = (elpsd.subsec_nanos() / 1000000)as u64;
    let dur = secs * 1000 + millis;
    
    println!("2^{} times 3^{} times 5^{}", rslt.0, rslt.1, rslt.2);
    let rs = convert_log2big(rslt).to_str_radix(10);
    let mut s = rs.as_str();
    println!("{} digits:", s.len());
    let lg3 = 3.0f64.log2();
    let lg5 = 5.0f64.log2();
    let lg = (rslt.0 as f64 + rslt.1 as f64 * lg3
            + rslt.2 as f64 * lg5) * 2.0f64.log10();
    println!("Approximately {}E+{}", 10.0f64.powf(lg.fract()), lg.trunc());
    if s.len() <= 10000 {
        while s.len() > 100 {
            let (f, r) = s.split_at(100);
            s = r;
            println!("{}", f);
        }
        println!("{}", s);
    }

    println!("This last took {} milliseconds.", dur);
}
[ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 36 ]
2125764000
2^55 times 3^47 times 5^64
84 digits:
Approximately 5.193127804483804E+83
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
This last took 0 milliseconds.

The above code takes too little time to calculate the millionth Hamming numbers to be measured (as seen above), calculates the billionth number in under 10 milliseconds, calculates the trillionth in less than a second, and the thousand trillionth (10^15) in just over a minute (72 seconds). However, the program needs to be tuned for correctness for ranges of about the 100 trillionth value and above as the precision of the log approximation is not sufficient above about that level to maintain the proper sort order, and thus the answers will start to be out by one value or more. The answers are likely correct up to that point as they are the same to a trillion as the equivalent Haskell program, although this version is much faster due to no garbage collection (the Haskell version spends about half its time garbage collecting) and doing the calculations using loops and array/vector accesses rather than the lazy list processing used in the Haskell version. The program should be able to determine the 10^19th hamming number in a few hours and can't quite find the 2^64th (18446744073709551615th) Hamming number due to a slight overflow near the limit.

The above code uses the library vector sort capabilities; custom sorting versions could be written but with the reduced array size, sorting is a very small percentage of the execution time and maximum space requirements are only a few 10's of Megabytes so that neither the time nor the space used for sorting are a concern.

Note that I'm not knocking Haskell, just that (as here) many Haskell programmers like to use lazy list processing which has its costs; the Haskell version could be re-written to use arrays and functional loops and likely be about the same speed although perhaps not as concise. By simply converting the Haskell program to force strictness and to use this same method of determining the width of the upper band, the Haskell program would have the same time and space complexity as here, but would still be a constant factor of almost eight times slower due to the list processing (with a constant factor for extra space as well). Use of a mutable array or vector would solve that, but unfortunately not as easily as here as there would be the question of "unboxed" versus "boxed" arrays/vectors, and the complexities of implementing the (faster) unboxed type in which to sort the band - in short, not as easy as here in Rust.

Scala

class Hamming extends Iterator[BigInt] {
  import scala.collection.mutable.Queue
  val qs = Seq.fill(3)(new Queue[BigInt])
  def enqueue(n: BigInt) = qs zip Seq(2, 3, 5) foreach { case (q, m) => q enqueue n * m }
  def next = {
    val n = qs map (_.head) min;
    qs foreach { q => if (q.head == n) q.dequeue }
    enqueue(n)
    n
  }
  def hasNext = true
  qs foreach (_ enqueue 1)
}

However, the usage of closures adds a significant amount of time. The code below, though a bit uglier because of the repetitions, is twice as fast:

class Hamming extends Iterator[BigInt] {
  import scala.collection.mutable.Queue
  val q2 = new Queue[BigInt]
  val q3 = new Queue[BigInt]
  val q5 = new Queue[BigInt]
  def enqueue(n: BigInt) = {
    q2 enqueue n * 2
    q3 enqueue n * 3
    q5 enqueue n * 5
  }
  def next = {
    val n = q2.head min q3.head min q5.head
    if (q2.head == n) q2.dequeue
    if (q3.head == n) q3.dequeue
    if (q5.head == n) q5.dequeue
    enqueue(n)
    n
  }
  def hasNext = true
  List(q2, q3, q5) foreach (_ enqueue 1)
}

Usage:

scala> new Hamming take 20 toList
res87: List[BigInt] = List(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 36)

scala> new Hamming drop 1690 next
res88: BigInt = 2125764000

scala> new Hamming drop 999999 next
res89: BigInt = 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

There's also a fairly mechanical translation from Haskell using purely functional lazy streams

Translation of: Haskell
val hamming : Stream[BigInt] = {
   def merge(inx : Stream[BigInt], iny : Stream[BigInt]) : Stream[BigInt] = {
      if (inx.head < iny.head) inx.head #:: merge(inx.tail, iny) else 
      if (iny.head < inx.head) iny.head #:: merge(inx, iny.tail) else
      merge(inx, iny.tail)
   }

   1 #:: merge(hamming map (_ * 2), merge(hamming map (_ * 3), hamming map (_ * 5)))
}

Use of "force" ensures that the stream is computed before being printed, otherwise it would just be left suspended and you'd see "Stream(1, ?)"

scala> (hamming take 20).force
res0: scala.collection.immutable.Stream[BigInt] = Stream(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 36)

To get the nth code find the n-1th element because indexes are 0 based

scala> hamming(1690)
res1: BigInt = 2125764000

To calculate the 1000000th code I had to increase the JVM heap from the default

scala> hamming(999999)
res2: BigInt = 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Translation of Haskell code avoiding duplicates

One can fix the problems of the memory use of the above code resulting from the entire stream being held in memory due to the use a "val hamming: Stream[BigInt]" by using a function "def hamming(): Stream[BigInt]" and making temporary local variables for intermediate streams so that the beginnings of the streams are garbage collected as the output stream is consumed; one can also implement the other Haskell algorithm to avoid factor duplication by building each stream on successive streams, again with memory conserved by building the least dense first:

  def hamming(): Stream[BigInt] = {
    def merge(a: Stream[BigInt], b: Stream[BigInt]): Stream[BigInt] = {
      if (a.isEmpty) b else {
        val av = a.head; val bv = b.head
        if (av < bv) av #:: merge(a.tail, b)
        else bv #:: merge(a, b.tail) } }
    def smult(m:Int, s: Stream[BigInt]): Stream[BigInt] =
      (m * s.head) #:: smult(m, s.tail) // equiv to map (m *) s; faster
    def u(s: Stream[BigInt], n: Int): Stream[BigInt] = {
      lazy val r: Stream[BigInt] = merge(s, smult(n, 1 #:: r))
      r }
    1 #:: List(5, 3, 2).foldLeft(Stream.empty[BigInt]) { u } }

Usage:

scala> hamming() take 20 force
res0: scala.collection.immutable.Stream[BigInt] = Stream(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 36)

scala> hamming() drop 1690 head
res1: BigInt = 2125764000

scala> hamming() drop 999999 head
res2: BigInt = 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

It only takes under a half second to find the millionth number in the sequence in the last output.

Scheme

(define-syntax lons
  (syntax-rules ()
    ((_ lar ldr) (delay (cons lar (delay ldr))))))

(define (lar lons)
  (car (force lons)))

(define (ldr lons)
  (force (cdr (force lons))))

(define (lap proc . llists)
  (lons (apply proc (map lar llists)) (apply lap proc (map ldr llists))))

(define (take n llist)
  (if (zero? n)
      (list)
      (cons (lar llist) (take (- n 1) (ldr llist)))))

(define (llist-ref n llist)
  (if (= n 1)
      (lar llist)
      (llist-ref (- n 1) (ldr llist))))

(define (merge llist-1 . llists)
  (define (merge-2 llist-1 llist-2)
    (cond ((null? llist-1) llist-2)
          ((null? llist-2) llist-1)
          ((< (lar llist-1) (lar llist-2))
           (lons (lar llist-1) (merge-2 (ldr llist-1) llist-2)))
          ((> (lar llist-1) (lar llist-2))
           (lons (lar llist-2) (merge-2 llist-1 (ldr llist-2))))
          (else (lons (lar llist-1) (merge-2 (ldr llist-1) (ldr llist-2))))))
  (if (null? llists)
      llist-1
      (apply merge (cons (merge-2 llist-1 (car llists)) (cdr llists)))))

(define hamming
  (lons 1
        (merge (lap (lambda (x) (* x 2)) hamming)
               (lap (lambda (x) (* x 3)) hamming)
               (lap (lambda (x) (* x 5)) hamming))))

(display (take 20 hamming))
(newline)
(display (llist-ref 1691 hamming))
(newline)
(display (llist-ref 1000000 hamming))
(newline)
Output:
(1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36)
2125764000
out of memory

Avoiding Generation of Duplicates, including reduced memory use

Translation of: Haskell

Although the algorithm above is true to the classic Dijkstra version and although the algorithm does require a form of lazy list/stream processing in order to utilize memoization and avoid repeated recalculations/comparisons, the stream implementation can be simplified, and the modified algorithm as per the Haskell code avoids duplicate generations of factors. As well, the following code implements the algorithm as a procedure/function so that it restarts the calculation from the beginning on every new call and so that internal stream variables are not top level so that the garbage collector can collect the beginning of all intermediate and final streams when they are no longer referenced; in this way total memory used (after interspersed garbage collections) is almost zero for a sequence of the first million numbers. Note that Scheme R5RS does not define "map" or "foldl" functions, so these are provided (a simplified "smult" which is faster than using map for this one purpose):

(define (hamming)
  (define (foldl f z l)
    (define (foldls zs ls)
      (if (null? ls) zs (foldls (f zs (car ls)) (cdr ls))))
    (foldls z l))
  (define (merge a b)
    (if (null? a) b
      (let ((x (car a)) (y (car b)))
        (if (< x y) (cons x (delay (merge (force (cdr a)) b)))
                    (cons y (delay (merge a (force (cdr b)))))))))
  (define (smult m s) (cons (* m (car s)) ;; equiv to map (* m) s; faster
             (delay (smult m (force (cdr s))))))
  (define (u s n) (letrec ((a (merge s (smult n (cons 1 (delay a)))))) a))
  (cons 1 (delay (foldl u '() '(5 3 2)))))

;;; test...
(define (stream-take->list n strm) 
  (if (= n 0) (list) (cons (car strm) 
    (stream-take->list (- n 1) (force (cdr strm))))))
(define (stream-ref strm nth) 
  (do ((nxt strm (force (cdr nxt))) (cnt 0 (+ cnt 1)))
      ((>= cnt nth) (car nxt))))
(display (stream-take->list 20 (hamming))) (newline)
(display (stream-ref (hamming) (- 1691 1))) (newline)
(display (stream-ref (hamming) (- 1000000 1))) (newline)
Output:
{1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36}
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

The "stream-ref" procedure is zero based as is the Scheme standard for array indices, thus the subtraction of one from the desired nth number in the sequence.

Seed7

$ include "seed7_05.s7i";
  include "bigint.s7i";

const func bigInteger: min (in bigInteger: a, in bigInteger: b, in bigInteger: c) is func
  result
    var bigInteger: min is 0_;
  begin
    if a < b then
      min := a;
    else
      min := b;
    end if;
    if c < min then
      min := c;
    end if;
  end func;

const func bigInteger: hamming (in integer: n) is func
  result
    var bigInteger: hammingNum is 1_;
  local
    var array bigInteger: hammingNums is 0 times 0_;
    var integer: index is 0;
    var bigInteger: x2 is 2_;
    var bigInteger: x3 is 3_;
    var bigInteger: x5 is 5_;
    var integer: i is 1;
    var integer: j is 1;
    var integer: k is 1;
  begin
    hammingNums := n times 1_;
    for index range 2 to n do
      hammingNum := min(x2, x3, x5);
      hammingNums[index] := hammingNum;
      if x2 = hammingNum then
        incr(i);
        x2 := 2_ * hammingNums[i];
      end if;
      if x3 = hammingNum then
        incr(j);
        x3 := 3_ * hammingNums[j];
      end if;
      if x5 = hammingNum then
        incr(k);
        x5 := 5_ * hammingNums[k];
      end if;
    end for;
  end func;
 
const proc: main is func
  local
    var integer: n is 0;
  begin
    for n range 1 to 20 do
      write(hamming(n) <& " ");
    end for;
    writeln;
    writeln(hamming(1691));
    writeln(hamming(1000000));
  end func;
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Sidef

func ham_gen {
    var s = [[1], [1], [1]]
    var m = [2, 3, 5]
 
    func {
        var n = [s[0][0], s[1][0], s[2][0]].min
        { |i|
            s[i].shift if (s[i][0] == n)
            s[i].append(n * m[i])
        } << ^3
        return n
    }
}

var h = ham_gen()

var i = 20;
say i.of { h() }.join(' ')

{ h() } << (i+1 ..^ 1691)
say h()
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36
2125764000

Smalltalk

Works with: GNU Smalltalk

This is a straightforward implementation of the pseudocode snippet found in the Python section. Smalltalk supports arbitrary-precision integers, but the implementation is too slow to try it with 1 million.

Object subclass: Hammer [
  Hammer class >> hammingNumbers: howMany [
    |h i j k x2 x3 x5| 
      h := OrderedCollection new.
      i := 0. j := 0. k := 0.
      h add: 1.
      x2 := 2. x3 := 2. x5 := 5.
      [ ( h size) < howMany ] whileTrue: [
        |m|
        m := { x2. x3. x5 } sort first.
        (( h indexOf: m ) = 0) ifTrue: [ h add: m ].
        ( x2 = (h last) ) ifTrue: [ i := i + 1. x2 := 2 * (h at: i) ].
        ( x3 = (h last) ) ifTrue: [ j := j + 1. x3 := 3 * (h at: j) ].
        ( x5 = (h last) ) ifTrue: [ k := k + 1. x5 := 5 * (h at: k) ]. 
      ].
      ^ h sort
  ]
].

(Hammer hammingNumbers: 20) displayNl.
(Hammer hammingNumbers: 1690) last displayNl.
Works with: Pharo Smalltalk
limit := 10 raisedToInteger: 84.
tape := Set new.

hammingProcess := [:newHamming|
	(newHamming <= limit)
		ifTrue: 
			[| index |
			index := tape scanFor: newHamming.
			(tape array at: index) 
				ifNil: 
					[tape atNewIndex: index put: newHamming asSetElement.
					hammingProcess value: newHamming * 2.
					hammingProcess value: newHamming * 3.
					hammingProcess value: newHamming * 5]]].

hammingProcess value: 1.

sc := tape asSortedCollection.
sc first: 20. "a SortedCollection(1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36)"
sc at: 1691. "2125764000" 
sc at: 1000000. "519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000"


This is using the Xtreams package (see http://www.squeaksource.com/Xtreams.html) The tape is a Heap of associations, the key is a hamming number, the value is its greatest prime factor. Associations responds to <, so can be used in Heap, and are sorted by key. The stream can only move forward, for economy, we don't bother buffering past values. The counterpart is that we have no direct indexing and must keep the position counter by ourself.

tape := Heap with: 1 -> 1.
hammingStream :=
	[| next |
	next := tape removeFirst.
	next value <= 2 ifTrue: [tape add: next key * 2 -> 2].
	next value <= 3 ifTrue: [tape add: next key * 3 -> 3].
	next value <= 5 ifTrue: [tape add: next key * 5 -> 5].
	next key]
		reading.

hammingStream read: 20. "get first 20 values => #(1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36)"
hammingStream ++ 1670. "skip the next 1670 values"
hammingStream get. "and the 1691th value is => 2125764000".
hammingStream ++ (999999 - 1691). "now skip more to position at 999,999".
hammingStream get. "and the 1,000,000th value is =>  519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000".
tape size. "See how many we have buffered =>  24904"

SQL

This uses SQL99's "WITH RECURSIVE" (more like co-recursion) to build a table of Hamming numbers, then selects out the desired ones. With sqlite it is very fast. It doesn't try to get the millionth number because sqlite doesn't have bignums.

CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE factors(n INT);
INSERT INTO factors VALUES(2);
INSERT INTO factors VALUES(3);
INSERT INTO factors VALUES(5);

CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE hamming AS
    WITH RECURSIVE ham AS (
          SELECT 1 as h
          UNION
          SELECT h*n x FROM ham JOIN factors ORDER BY x
          LIMIT 1700
        )
    SELECT h FROM ham;

sqlite> SELECT h FROM hamming ORDER BY h LIMIT 20;
1
2
3
4
5
6
8
9
10
12
15
16
18
20
24
25
27
30
32
36
sqlite> SELECT h FROM hamming ORDER BY h LIMIT 1 OFFSET 1690;
2125764000

Tcl

This uses coroutines to simplify the description of what's going on.

Works with: Tcl version 8.6
package require Tcl 8.6

# Simple helper: Tcl-style list "map"
proc map {varName list script} {
    set l {}
    upvar 1 $varName v
    foreach v $list {lappend l [uplevel 1 $script]}
    return $l
}

# The core of a coroutine to compute the product of a hamming sequence.
#
# Tricky bit: we don't automatically advance to the next value, and instead
# wait to be told that the value has been consumed (i.e., is the result of
# the [yield] operation).
proc ham {key multiplier} {
    global hammingCache
    set i 0
    yield [info coroutine]
    # Cannot use [foreach]; that would take a snapshot of the list in
    # the hammingCache variable, so missing updates.
    while 1 {
	set n [expr {[lindex $hammingCache($key) $i] * $multiplier}]
	# If the number selected was ours, we advance to compute the next
	if {[yield $n] == $n} {
	    incr i
	}
    }
}

# This coroutine computes the hamming sequence given a list of multipliers.
# It uses the [ham] helper from above to generate indivdual multiplied
# sequences. The key into the cache is the list of multipliers.
#
# Note that it is advisable for the values to be all co-prime wrt each other.
proc hammingCore args {
    global hammingCache
    set hammingCache($args) 1
    set hammers [map x $args {coroutine ham$x,$args ham $args $x}]
    yield
    while 1 {
	set n [lindex $hammingCache($args) [incr i]-1]
	lappend hammingCache($args) \
	    [tcl::mathfunc::min {*}[map h $hammers {$h $n}]]
	yield $n
    }
}

# Assemble the pieces so as to compute the classic hamming sequence.
coroutine hamming hammingCore 2 3 5
# Print the first 20 values of the sequence
for {set i 1} {$i <= 20} {incr i} {
    puts [format "hamming\[%d\] = %d" $i [hamming]]
}
for {} {$i <= 1690} {incr i} {set h [hamming]}
puts "hamming{1690} = $h"
for {} {$i <= 1000000} {incr i} {set h [hamming]}
puts "hamming{1000000} = $h"
Output:
hamming{1} = 1
hamming{2} = 2
hamming{3} = 3
hamming{4} = 4
hamming{5} = 5
hamming{6} = 6
hamming{7} = 8
hamming{8} = 9
hamming{9} = 10
hamming{10} = 12
hamming{11} = 15
hamming{12} = 16
hamming{13} = 18
hamming{14} = 20
hamming{15} = 24
hamming{16} = 25
hamming{17} = 27
hamming{18} = 30
hamming{19} = 32
hamming{20} = 36
hamming{1690} = 2123366400
hamming{1000000} = 519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

A faster version can be built that also works on Tcl 8.5 (or earlier, if only small hamming numbers are being computed):

variable hamming 1 hi2 0 hi3 0 hi5 0
proc hamming {n} {
    global hamming hi2 hi3 hi5
    set h2 [expr {[lindex $hamming $hi2]*2}]
    set h3 [expr {[lindex $hamming $hi3]*3}]
    set h5 [expr {[lindex $hamming $hi5]*5}]
    while {[llength $hamming] < $n} {
	lappend hamming [set h [expr {
	    $h2<$h3
	        ? $h2<$h5 ? $h2 : $h5
	        : $h3<$h5 ? $h3 : $h5
	}]]
	if {$h==$h2} {
	    set h2 [expr {[lindex $hamming [incr hi2]]*2}]
	}
	if {$h==$h3} {
	    set h3 [expr {[lindex $hamming [incr hi3]]*3}]
	}
	if {$h==$h5} {
	    set h5 [expr {[lindex $hamming [incr hi5]]*5}]
	}
    }
    return [lindex $hamming [expr {$n - 1}]]
}

# Print the first 20 values of the sequence
for {set i 1} {$i <= 20} {incr i} {
    puts [format "hamming\[%d\] = %d" $i [hamming $i]]
}
puts "hamming{1690} = [hamming 1690]"
puts "hamming{1691} = [hamming 1691]"
puts "hamming{1692} = [hamming 1692]"
puts "hamming{1693} = [hamming 1693]"
puts "hamming{1000000} = [hamming 1000000]"

uBasic/4tH

uBasic's single array does not have the required size to calculate the 1691st number, let alone the millionth.

For H = 1 To 20
  Print "H("; H; ") = "; Func (_FnHamming(H))
Next

End

_FnHamming Param (1)
  @(0) = 1

  X = 2 : Y = 3 : Z = 5
  I = 0 : J = 0 : K = 0

  For N = 1 To a@ - 1
    M = X
    If M > Y Then M = Y
    If M > Z Then M = Z
    @(N) = M

    If M = X Then I = I + 1 : X = 2 * @(I)
    If M = Y Then J = J + 1 : Y = 3 * @(J)
    If M = Z Then K = K + 1 : Z = 5 * @(K)
  Next

Return (@(a@-1))
Output:
H(1) = 1
H(2) = 2
H(3) = 3
H(4) = 4
H(5) = 5
H(6) = 6
H(7) = 8
H(8) = 9
H(9) = 10
H(10) = 12
H(11) = 15
H(12) = 16
H(13) = 18
H(14) = 20
H(15) = 24
H(16) = 25
H(17) = 27
H(18) = 30
H(19) = 32
H(20) = 36

0 OK, 0:379

UNIX Shell

Works with: ksh93
Works with: Bourne Again SHell version 4+

Large numbers are not supported.

typeset -a hamming=(1) q2 q3 q5
function nextHamming {
    typeset -i h=${hamming[${#hamming[@]}-1]}
    q2+=( $(( h*2 )) )
    q3+=( $(( h*3 )) )
    q5+=( $(( h*5 )) )
    h=$( min3 ${q2[0]} ${q3[0]} ${q5[0]} )
    (( ${q2[0]} == h )) && ashift q2 >/dev/null
    (( ${q3[0]} == h )) && ashift q3 >/dev/null
    (( ${q5[0]} == h )) && ashift q5 >/dev/null
    hamming+=($h)
}

function ashift {
    typeset -n ary=$1
    printf '%s\n' "${ary[0]}"
    ary=( "${ary[@]:1}" )
}

function min3 {
    if (( $1 < $2 )); then
        (( $1 < $3 )) && printf '%s\n'$1 || printf '%s\n'$3
    else
        (( $2 < $3 )) && printf '%s\n'$2 || printf '%s\n'$3
    fi
}

for ((i=1; i<=20; i++)); do
    nextHamming
    printf '%d\t%d\n' "$i" "${hamming[i-1]}"
done
for ((; i<=1690; i++)); do nextHamming; done
nextHamming
printf '%d\t%d\n' "$i" "${hamming[i-1]}"
printf 'elapsed: %s\n' "$SECONDS"
Output:
1	1
2	2
3	3
4	4
5	5
6	6
7	8
8	9
9	10
10	12
11	15
12	16
13	18
14	20
15	24
16	25
17	27
18	30
19	32
20	36
1690	2125764000
elapsed: 0.568

Ursala

Smooth is defined as a second order function taking a list of primes and returning a function that takes a natural number to the -th smooth number with respect to them. An elegant but inefficient formulation based on the J solution is the following.

#import std
#import nat

smooth"p" "n" = ~&z take/"n" nleq-< (rep(length "n") ^Ts/~& product*K0/"p") <1>

This test program

main = smooth<2,3,5>* nrange(1,20)

yields this list of the first 20 Hamming numbers.

<1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,12,15,16,18,20,24,25,27,30,32,36>

Although all calculations are performed using unlimited precision, the version above is impractical for large numbers. A more hardcore approach is the following.

#import std
#import nat

smooth"p" "n" =

~&H\"p" *-<1>; @NiXS ~&/(1,1); ~&ll~="n"->lr -+
   ^\~&rlPrrn2rrm2Zlrrmz3EZYrrm2lNCTrrm2QAX*rhlPNhrnmtPA2XtCD ~&lrPrhl2E?/~&l ^|/successor@l ~&hl,
   ^|/~& nleq-<&l+ * ^\~&r ~&l|| product@rnmhPX+-

#cast %nL

main = smooth<2,3,5>* nrange(1,20)--<1691,1000000>
Output:

The great majority of time is spent calculating the millionth Hamming number.

<
   1,
   2,
   3,
   4,
   5,
   6,
   8,
   9,
   10,
   12,
   15,
   16,
   18,
   20,
   24,
   25,
   27,
   30,
   32,
   36,
   2125764000,
   519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000>

VBA

'RosettaCode Hamming numbers
'This is a well known hard problem in number theory:
'counting the number of lattice points in a
'n-dimensional tetrahedron, here n=3.
Public a As Double, b As Double, c As Double, d As Double
Public p As Double, q As Double, r As Double
Public cnt() As Integer 'stores the number of lattice points indexed on the exponents of 3 and 5
Public hn(2) As Integer 'stores the exponents of 2, 3 and 5
Public Declare Function GetTickCount Lib "kernel32.dll" () As Long
Private Function log10(x As Double) As Double
    log10 = WorksheetFunction.log10(x)
End Function
Private Function pow(x As Variant, y As Variant) As Double
    pow = WorksheetFunction.Power(x, y)
End Function
Private Sub init(N As Long)
    'Computes a, b and c as the vertices
    '(a,0,0), (0,b,0), (0,0,c) of a tetrahedron
    'with apex (0,0,0) and volume N
    'volume N=a*b*c/6
    Dim k As Double
    k = log10(2) * log10(3) * log10(5) * 6 * N
    k = pow(k, 1 / 3)
    a = k / log10(2)
    b = k / log10(3)
    c = k / log10(5)
    p = -b * c
    q = -a * c
    r = -a * b
End Sub
Private Function x_given_y_z(y As Integer, z As Integer) As Double
    x_given_y_z = -(q * y + r * z + a * b * c) / p
End Function
Private Function cmp(i As Integer, j As Integer, k As Integer, gn() As Integer) As Boolean
    cmp = (i * log10(2) + j * log10(3) + k * log10(5)) > (gn(0) * log10(2) + gn(1) * log10(3) + gn(2) * log10(5))
End Function
Private Function count(N As Long, step As Integer) As Long
    'Loop over y and z, compute x and
    'count number of lattice points within tetrahedron.
    'Step 1 is indirectly called by find_seed to calibrate the plane through A, B and C
    'Step 2 fills the matrix cnt with the number of lattice points given the exponents of 3 and 5
    'Step 3 the plane is lowered marginally so one or two candidates stick out
    Dim M As Long, j As Integer, k As Integer
    If step = 2 Then ReDim cnt(0 To Int(b) + 1, 0 To Int(c) + 1)
    M = 0: j = 0: k = 0
    Do While -c * j - b * k + b * c > 0
        Do While -c * j - b * k + b * c > 0
            Select Case step
                Case 1: M = M + Int(x_given_y_z(j, k))
                Case 2
                    cnt(j, k) = Int(x_given_y_z(j, k))
                Case 3
                    If Int(x_given_y_z(j, k)) < cnt(j, k) Then
                        'This is a candidate, and ...
                        If cmp(cnt(j, k), j, k, hn) Then
                            'it is bigger dan what is already in hn
                            hn(0) = cnt(j, k)
                            hn(1) = j
                            hn(2) = k
                        End If
                    End If
            End Select
            k = k + 1
        Loop
        k = 0
        j = j + 1
    Loop
    count = M
End Function
Private Sub list_upto(ByVal N As Integer)
    Dim count As Integer
    count = 1
    Dim hn As Integer
    hn = 1
    Do While count < N
        k = hn
        Do While k Mod 2 = 0
            k = k / 2
        Loop
        Do While k Mod 3 = 0
            k = k / 3
        Loop
        Do While k Mod 5 = 0
            k = k / 5
        Loop
        If k = 1 Then
            Debug.Print hn; " ";
            count = count + 1
        End If
        hn = hn + 1
    Loop
    Debug.Print
End Sub
Private Function find_seed(N As Long, step As Integer) As Long
    Dim initial As Long, total As Long
    initial = N
    Do 'a simple iterative goal search, takes a handful iterations only
        init initial
        total = count(initial, step)
        initial = initial + N - total
    Loop Until total = N
    find_seed = initial
End Function
Private Sub find_hn(N As Long)
    Dim fs As Long, err As Long
    'Step 1: find fs such that the number of lattice points is exactly N
    fs = find_seed(N, 1)
    'Step 2: fill the matrix cnt
    init fs
    err = count(fs, 2)
    'Step 3: lower the plane by diminishing fs, the candidates for
    'the Nth Hamming number will stick out and be recorded in hn
    init fs - 1
    err = count(fs - 1, 3)
    Debug.Print "2^" & hn(0) - 1; " * 3^" & hn(1); " * 5^" & hn(2); "=";
    If N < 1692 Then
        'The task set a limit on the number size
        Debug.Print pow(2, hn(0) - 1) * pow(3, hn(1)) * pow(5, hn(2))
    Else
        Debug.Print
        If N <= 1000000 Then
            'The big Hamming Number will end in a lot of zeroes. The common exponents of 2 and 5
            'are split off to be printed separately.
            If hn(0) - 1 < hn(2) Then
                'Conversion to Decimal datatype with CDec allows to print numbers upto 10^28
                Debug.Print CDec(pow(3, hn(1))) * CDec(pow(5, hn(2) - hn(0) + 1)) & String$(hn(0) - 1, "0")
            Else
                Debug.Print CDec(pow(2, hn(0) - 1 - hn(2))) * CDec(pow(3, hn(1))) & String$(hn(2), "0")
            End If
        End If
    End If
End Sub
Public Sub main()
    Dim start_time As Long, finis_time As Long
    start_time = GetTickCount
    Debug.Print "The first twenty Hamming numbers are:"
    list_upto 20
    Debug.Print "Hamming number 1691 is: ";
    find_hn 1691
    Debug.Print "Hamming number 1000000 is: ";
    find_hn 1000000
    finis_time = GetTickCount
    Debug.Print "Execution time"; (finis_time - start_time); " milliseconds"
End Sub
Output:
The first twenty Hamming numbers are:
 1   2   3   4   5   6   8   9   10   12   15   16   18   20   24   25   27   30   32  
Hamming number 1691 is: 2^5 * 3^12 * 5^3= 2125764000 
Hamming number 1000000 is: 2^55 * 3^47 * 5^64=
519312780448388671875000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Execution time 79  milliseconds

VBScript

Translation of: BBC BASIC
For h = 1 To 20
	WScript.StdOut.Write "H(" & h & ") = " & Hamming(h)
	WScript.StdOut.WriteLine
Next
WScript.StdOut.Write "H(" & 1691 & ") = " & Hamming(1691)
WScript.StdOut.WriteLine

Function Hamming(l)
	Dim h() : Redim h(l) : h(0) = 1
	i = 0 : j = 0 : k = 0
	x2 = 2 : x3 = 3 : x5 = 5
	For n = 1 To l-1
		m = x2
		If m > x3 Then m = x3 End If
		If m > x5 Then m = x5 End If
		h(n) = m
		If m = x2 Then i = i + 1 : x2 = 2 * h(i) End If
		If m = x3 Then j = j + 1 : x3 = 3 * h(j) End If
		If m = x5 Then k = k + 1 : x5 = 5 * h(k) End If
	Next
	Hamming = h(l-1)
End Function
Output:
H(1) = 1
H(2) = 2
H(3) = 3
H(4) = 4
H(5) = 5
H(6) = 6
H(7) = 8
H(8) = 9
H(9) = 10
H(10) = 12
H(11) = 15
H(12) = 16
H(13) = 18
H(14) = 20
H(15) = 24
H(16) = 25
H(17) = 27
H(18) = 30
H(19) = 32
H(20) = 36
H(1691) = 2125764000

V (Vlang)

Translation of: go

Concise version using dynamic-programming

import math.big

fn min(a big.Integer, b big.Integer) big.Integer {
    if a < b {
        return a
    }
    return b
}
 
fn hamming(n int) []big.Integer {
    mut h := []big.Integer{len: n}
    h[0] = big.one_int
    two, three, five    := big.two_int, big.integer_from_int(3), big.integer_from_int(5)
    mut next2, mut next3, mut next5 := big.two_int, big.integer_from_int(3), big.integer_from_int(5)
    mut i, mut j, mut k := 0, 0, 0
    for m in 1..h.len {
        h[m] = min(next2, min(next3, next5))
        if h[m] == next2 {
            i++
            next2 = two * h[i]
        } 
        if h[m] == next3 {
            j++
            next3 = three * h[j]
        } 
        if h[m] == next5 {
            k++
            next5 = five * h[k]
        } 
    }
    return h
}
 
fn main() {
    h := hamming(int(1e6))
    println(h[..20])
    println(h[1691-1])
    println(h[h.len-1])
}
Output:
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 36]
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Fast version with no duplicates algorithm using arrays for memoization and logarithmic approximations

The V (Vlang) language isn't yet stable enough (version 0.30) to support a fully functional version using generic lazy lists as per the Haskell language versions and in truth is mostly an imperative language anyway; however, it already can do the page task very quickly with a more imperative algorithm using arrays for memoization storage and logarithmic approximations for sorting comparisons to avoid "infinite" precision integer calculations except for the final result values, as per the following code, which is Nim's "ring buffer" version as that is faster due to less copying required:

Translation of: Nim
// compile with:  v -cflags -march=native -cflags -O3 -prod HammingsLogQ.v

import time
import math.big
import math { log2 }
import arrays { copy }

const num_elements = 1_000_000

struct LogRep {
  lg f64
  x2 u32
  x3 u32
  x5 u32
}
const (
  one = LogRep { 0.0, 0, 0, 0 }
  lb2_2 = 1.0
  lb2_3 = log2(3.0)
  lb2_5 = log2(5.0)
)
[inline]
fn (lr &LogRep) mul2() LogRep {
  return LogRep { lg: lr.lg + lb2_2,
                  x2: lr.x2 + 1,
                  x3: lr.x3,
                  x5: lr.x5 }
}
[inline]
fn (lr &LogRep) mul3() LogRep {
  return LogRep { lg: lr.lg + lb2_3,
                  x2: lr.x2,
                  x3: lr.x3 + 1,
                  x5: lr.x5 }
}
[inline]
fn (lr &LogRep) mul5() LogRep {
  return LogRep { lg: lr.lg + lb2_5,
                  x2: lr.x2,
                  x3: lr.x3,
                  x5: lr.x5 + 1 }
}
[inline]
fn xpnd(x u32, mlt u32) big.Integer {
  mut r := big.integer_from_int(1)
  mut m := big.integer_from_u32(mlt)
  mut v := x
  for {
    if v <= 0 { break }
    else {
      if v & 1 != 0 { r = r * m }
      m = m * m
      v >>= 1
    }
  }
  return r
}
fn (lr &LogRep) to_integer() big.Integer {
  return xpnd(lr.x2, 2) * xpnd(lr.x3, 3) * xpnd(lr.x5, 5)
}
fn (lr LogRep) str() string {
  return (&lr).to_integer().str()
}

struct HammingsLog {
  mut:
    // automatically initialized with LogRep = one (defult)...
    s2 []LogRep = []LogRep { len: 1024, cap: 1024 }
    s3 []LogRep = []LogRep { len: 1024, cap: 1024 }
    s5 LogRep = one.mul5()
    mrg LogRep = one.mul3()
    s2msk int = 1023
    s2hdi int
    s2nxti int = 1
    s3msk int = 1023
    s3hdi int
    s3nxti int
}
[direct_array_access][inline]
fn (mut hl HammingsLog) next() ?LogRep {
  mut rsltp := &hl.s2[hl.s2hdi]
  if rsltp.lg < hl.mrg.lg {
    hl.s2[hl.s2nxti] = rsltp.mul2()
    hl.s2hdi++
    hl.s2hdi &= hl.s2msk
  } else {
    mut rslt := hl.mrg
    rsltp = &rslt
    hl.s2[hl.s2nxti] = hl.mrg.mul2()
    hl.s3[hl.s3nxti] = hl.mrg.mul3()
    s3hdp := &hl.s3[hl.s3hdi]
    if unsafe { s3hdp.lg < hl.s5.lg } {
      hl.mrg = *s3hdp
      hl.s3hdi++
      hl.s3hdi &= hl.s3msk
    } else {
      hl.mrg = hl.s5
      hl.s5 = hl.s5.mul5()
    }
    hl.s3nxti++
    hl.s3nxti &= hl.s3msk
    if hl.s3nxti == hl.s3hdi { // buffer full: grow it
      sz := hl.s3msk + 1
      hl.s3msk = sz + sz
      unsafe { hl.s3.grow_len(sz) }
      hl.s3msk--
      if hl.s3hdi == 0 {
        hl.s3nxti = sz
      } else {
        unsafe { vmemcpy(&hl.s3[hl.s3hdi + sz], &hl.s3[hl.s3hdi],
                         int(sizeof(LogRep)) * (sz - hl.s3hdi)) }
        hl.s3hdi += sz
      }
    }
  }
  hl.s2nxti++
  hl.s2nxti &= hl.s2msk
  if hl.s2nxti == hl.s2hdi { // buffer full: grow it
    sz := hl.s2msk + 1
    hl.s2msk = sz + sz
    unsafe { hl.s2.grow_len(sz) }
    hl.s2msk--
    if hl.s2hdi == 0 {
      hl.s2nxti = sz
    } else {
      unsafe { vmemcpy(&hl.s2[hl.s2hdi + sz], &hl.s2[hl.s2hdi],
                       int(sizeof(LogRep)) * (sz - hl.s2hdi)) }
      hl.s2hdi += sz
    }
  }
  return *rsltp
}

fn (hmgs HammingsLog) nth_hammings_log(n int) LogRep {
  mut cnt := 0
  if n > 0 { for h in hmgs {
               cnt++
               if cnt >= n { return h } }
  }
  panic("argument less than 1 for nth!")
}

{
  hs := HammingsLog {}
  mut cnt := 0
  for h in hs {
    print("$h ")
    cnt++
    if cnt >= 20 { break }
  }
  println("")
}

println("${(HammingsLog{}).nth_hammings_log(1691)}")

start_time := time.now()
rslt := (HammingsLog{}).nth_hammings_log(num_elements)
duration := (time.now() - start_time).microseconds()
println("$rslt")
println("Above result for $num_elements elements in $duration microseconds.")
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Above result for 1000000 elements in 4881 microseconds.

The above result is as computed on an Intel i5-6500 at 3.6 GHz (single-threaded, boosted); the execution time is somewhat variable due to V currently using Garbage Collection by default, but the intention is to eventually use automatic reference counting by default which should make it slightly faster and more consistent other than for any variations caused by the memory allocator. The above version can calculate the billionth Hamming number in about 5.3 seconds.

Extremely fast version inserting values into the error band and using logarithmic approximations for sorting

The above code is about as fast as one can go generating sequences/iterations; however, if one is willing to forego sequences/iterations and just calculate the nth Hamming number (repeatedly when a sequence is desired, but that is only for the first required task of three and then only for a trivial range), then some reading on the relationship between the size of numbers to the sequence numbers is helpful (Wikipedia: Regular Number). One finds that there is a very distinct relationship and that it quite quickly reduces to quite a small error band proportional to the log of the output value for larger ranges. Thus, the following code just scans for logarithmic representations to insert into a sequence for this top error band and extracts the correct nth representation from that band. It reduces time complexity to O(n^(2/3)) from O(n) for the sequence versions, but even more amazingly, reduces memory requirements to O(n^(1/3)) from O(n^(2/3)) and thus makes it possible to calculate very large values in the sequence on common personal computers. This version uses a multi-precision integer as the representation of the logarithmic approximation of the value for sorting of the error band to extend the precision for accurate results up to almost the 64-bit number range (in about a day on common desktop computers). The code is as follows:

Translation of: Nim
// compile with:  v -cflags -march=native -cflags -O3 -prod HammingsLog.v

import time
import math.big
import math { log2, sqrt, pow, floor }

const num_elements = 1_000_000

struct LogRep {
  lg big.Integer
  x2 u32
  x3 u32
  x5 u32
}
const (
  one = LogRep { big.zero_int, 0, 0, 0 }
  // 1267650600228229401496703205376
  lb2_2 = big.Integer { digits: [u32(0), 0, 0, 16],
                        signum: 1, is_const: true }
  // 2009178665378409109047848542368
  lb2_3 = big.Integer { digits: [u32(11608224), 3177740794, 1543611295, 25]
	                    signum: 1, is_const: true }
  // 2943393543170754072109742145491
  lb2_5 = big.Integer { digits: [u32(1258143699), 1189265298, 647893747, 37],
                        signum: 1, is_const: true }
  smlb2_2 = f64(1.0)
  smlb2_3 = log2(3.0)
  smlb2_5 = log2(5.0)
  fctr = f64(6.0) * smlb2_3 * smlb2_5
  crctn = log2(sqrt(30.0))
)
fn xpnd(x u32, mlt u32) big.Integer {
  mut r := big.integer_from_int(1)
  mut m := big.integer_from_u32(mlt)
  mut v := x
  for {
    if v <= 0 { break }
    else {
      if v & 1 != 0 { r = r * m }
      m = m * m
      v >>= 1
    }
  }
  return r
}
fn (lr LogRep) to_integer() big.Integer {
  return xpnd(lr.x2, 2) * xpnd(lr.x3, 3) * xpnd(lr.x5, 5)
}
fn (lr LogRep) str() string {
  return lr.to_integer().str()
}

fn nth_hamming_log(n u64) LogRep {
  if n < 2 { return one }
  lgest := pow(fctr * f64(n), f64(1.0)/f64(3.0)) - crctn // from WP formula
  frctn := if n < 1_000_000_000 { f64(0.509) } else { f64(0.105) }
  lghi := pow(fctr * (f64(n) + frctn * lgest), f64(1.0)/f64(3.0)) - crctn
  lglo := f64(2.0) * lgest - lghi // and a lower limit of the upper "band"
  mut count := u64(0) // need to use extended precision, might go over
  mut band := []LogRep { len: 1, cap: 1 } // give it one value so doubling size works
  mut ih := 0 // band array insertion index
  klmt := u32(lghi / smlb2_5) + 1
  for k in u32(0) .. klmt {
    p := f64(k) * smlb2_5
    jlmt := u32((lghi - p) / smlb2_3) + 1
    for j in u32(0) .. jlmt {
      q := p + f64(j) * smlb2_3
      ir := lghi - q
      lg := q + floor(ir) // current log value (estimated)
      count += u64(ir) + 1
      if lg >= lglo {
        len := band.len
        if ih >= len { unsafe { band.grow_len(len) } }
        bglg := lb2_2 * big.integer_from_u32(u32(ir)) +
                  lb2_3 * big.integer_from_u32(j) +
                  lb2_5 * big.integer_from_u32(k)
        band[ih] = LogRep { lg: bglg, x2: u32(ir), x3: j, x5: k }
        ih++
      }
    }
  }
  band.sort_with_compare(fn(a &LogRep, b &LogRep) int {
      return b.lg.abs_cmp(a.lg)
    }
  )
  if n > count { panic("nth_hamming_log: band high estimate is too low!") }
  ndx := int(count - n)
  if ndx >= band.len { panic("nth_hamming_log: band low estimate is too high!") }
  return band[ndx]
}

for i in 1 .. 21 { print("${nth_hamming_log(i)} ") }
println("")

println("${nth_hamming_log(1691)}")

start_time := time.now()
rslt := nth_hamming_log(num_elements)
duration := (time.now() - start_time).microseconds()
println("$rslt")
println("Above result for $num_elements elements in $duration microseconds.")
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 
2125764000
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Above result for 1000000 elements in 277 microseconds.

The output is the same as above except that the execution time is almost too small to be measured; it can produce the billionth Hamming number in about five milliseconds, the trillionth Hamming number in about 440 milliseconds, and the thousand trillionth (which is now possible without error) in about 42.4 seconds. Thus, it successfully extends the usable range of the algorithm to near the maximum expressible 64 bit number in a few hours of execution time on a modern desktop computer although the (2^64 - 1)th Hamming number can't be found due to the restrictions of the expressible range limit in sizing of the required error band. This is in spite of the current Vlang standard library using its own implementation of multi-precision integers rather than the highly optimized "gmp" library used by some languages which could be somewhat faster.

Wren

Simple but slow

Library: Wren-big
import "./big" for BigInt, BigInts

var primes = [2, 3, 5].map { |p| BigInt.new(p) }.toList

var hamming = Fn.new { |size|
    if (size < 1) Fiber.abort("size must be at least 1")
    var ns = List.filled(size, null)
    ns[0] = BigInt.one
    var next = primes.toList
    var indices = List.filled(3, 0)
    for (m in 1...size) {
        ns[m] = BigInts.min(next)
        for (i in 0..2) {
            if (ns[m] == next[i]) {
                indices[i] = indices[i] + 1
                next[i] = primes[i] * ns[indices[i]]
            }
        }
    }
    return ns
}

var h = hamming.call(1e6)
System.print("The first 20 Hamming numbers are:")
System.print(h[0..19])
System.print()
System.print("The 1,691st Hamming number is:")
System.print(h[1690])
System.print()
System.print("The 1,000,000th Hamming number is:")
System.print(h[999999])
Output:
The first 20 Hamming numbers are:
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 16, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32, 36]

The 1,691st Hamming number is:
2125764000

The 1,000,000th Hamming number is:
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Much faster logarithmic version

Translation of: Go
Library: Wren-dynamic
Library: Wren-long
Library: Wren-math

A translation of Go's 'extremely fast version inserting logarithms into the top error band'.

Not as fast as the statically typed languages but fast enough for me :)

import "./dynamic" for Struct
import "./long" for ULong
import "./big" for BigInt
import "./math" for Math

var Logrep = Struct.create("LogRep", ["lg", "x2", "x3", "x5"])

var nthHamming = Fn.new { |n|
    if (n < 2) {
        if (n < 1) Fiber.abort("nthHamming:  argument is zero!")
        return [0, 0, 0]
    }
    var lb3   = 1.5849625007211561814537389439478
    var lb5   = 2.3219280948873623478703194294894
    var fctr  = 6 * lb3 * lb5
    var crctn = 2.4534452978042592646620291867186
    var lgest = (n.toNum * fctr).cbrt - crctn
    var frctn = (n < 1000000000) ? 0.509 : 0.106
    var lghi = ((n.toNum + lgest * frctn) * fctr).cbrt - crctn
    var lglo = lgest * 2 - lghi
    var count = ULong.zero
    var bnd = []
    var klmt = (lghi/lb5).truncate.abs + 1
    for (k in 0...klmt) {
        var p = k * lb5
        var jlmt = ((lghi - p)/lb3).truncate.abs + 1
        for (j in 0...jlmt) {
            var q = p + j * lb3
            var ir = lghi - q
            var lg = q + ir.floor
            count = count + ir.truncate.abs + 1
            if (lg >= lglo) bnd.add(Logrep.new(lg, ir.truncate.abs, j, k))
        }
    }
    if (n > count) Fiber.abort("nthHamming:  band high estimate is too low!")
    var ndx = (count - n).toSmall
    if (ndx >= bnd.count) Fiber.abort("nthHamming:  band low estimate is too high!")
    bnd.sort { |a, b| b.lg < a.lg }
    var rslt = bnd[ndx]
    return [rslt.x2, rslt.x3, rslt.x5]
}

var convertTpl2BigInt = Fn.new { |tpl|
    var result = BigInt.one
    for (i in 0...tpl[0]) result = result * 2
    for (i in 0...tpl[1]) result = result * 3
    for (i in 0...tpl[2]) result = result * 5
    return result
}

System.print("The first 20 Hamming numbers are:")
for (i in 1..20) {
    System.write("%(convertTpl2BigInt.call(nthHamming.call(ULong.new(i)))) ")
}
System.print("\n\nThe 1,691st Hamming number is:")
System.print(convertTpl2BigInt.call(nthHamming.call(ULong.new(1691))))
var start = System.clock
var res = nthHamming.call(ULong.new(1e6))
var end = System.clock
System.print("\nThe 1,000,000 Hamming number is:")
System.print(convertTpl2BigInt.call(res))
var duration = ((end-start) * 1000).round
System.print("The last of these found in %(duration) milliseconds.")
Output:
The first 20 Hamming numbers are:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 

The 1,691st Hamming number is:
2125764000

The 1,000,000 Hamming number is:
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
The last of these found in 16 milliseconds.

XPL0

func Hamming(N);        \Return 'true' if N is a Hamming number
int  N;
[if N = 1 then return true;
if rem(N/2) = 0 then return Hamming(N/2);
if rem(N/3) = 0 then return Hamming(N/3);
if rem(N/5) = 0 then return Hamming(N/5);
return false;
];

int N, C;
[N:= 1;  C:= 0;
loop    [if Hamming(N) then
            [C:= C+1;
            IntOut(0, N);  ChOut(0, ^ );
            if C >= 20 then quit;
            ];
        N:= N+1;
        ];
CrLf(0);
N:= 1<<31;      \ 8-)
repeat N:= N-1 until Hamming(N);
IntOut(0, N);
]
Output:
1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 16 18 20 24 25 27 30 32 36 
2125764000

Yabasic

Translation of: Run BASIC
dim h(1000000)
for i =1 to 20
    print hamming(i)," ";
next i
 
print
print "Hamming List First(1691)   = ",hamming(1691)
end
 
sub hamming(limit)
    local x2,

x3,x5,i,j,k,n
	
    h(0) =1
    x2 = 2: x3 = 3: x5 =5
    i  = 0: j  = 0: k  =0
    for n =1 to limit
        h(n)  = min(x2, min(x3, x5))
        if x2 = h(n) then i = i +1: x2 =2 *h(i):end if
        if x3 = h(n) then j = j +1: x3 =3 *h(j):end if
        if x5 = h(n) then k = k +1: x5 =5 *h(k):end if
    next n
    return h(limit -1)
end sub

zkl

var BN=Import("zklBigNum");  // only needed for large N
fcn hamming(N){
   h:=List.createLong(N+1); (0).pump(N+1,h.write,Void); // fill list with stuff
   h[0]=1;
#if 1  // regular (64 bit) ints
   x2:=2; x3:=3; x5:=5; i:=j:=k:=0;
#else  // big ints
   x2:=BN(2); x3:=BN(3); x5:=BN(5); i:=j:=k:=0;
#endif
   foreach n in ([1..N]){
      z:=(x2<x3) and x2 or x3; z=(z<x5) and z or x5; h[n]=z;
      if (h[n] == x2) { x2 = h[i+=1]*2 }
      if (h[n] == x3) { x3 = h[j+=1]*3 }
      if (h[n] == x5) { x5 = h[k+=1]*5 }
   }
   return(h[N-1])
}
[1..20].apply(hamming).println();
hamming(1691).println();
Output:
L(1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,12,15,16,18,20,24,25,27,30,32,36)
2125764000

While the other algorithms save [lots of] space, run time still sucks when n > 100,000 so memory usage might as well too. Changing the #if 0 to 1 will use Big Int and lots of space.

Output:
hamming(0d1_000_000).println();
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

Direct calculation through triples enumeration

OK, I was wrong, calculating the nth Hamming number can be fast and efficient.

Translation of: Haskell
as direct a translation as I can, except using a nested for loop instead of list comprehension (which makes it easier to keep the count).
#-- directly find n-th Hamming number, in ~ O(n^{2/3}) time
#-- by Will Ness, based on "top band" idea by Louis Klauder, from DDJ discussion
#--   http://drdobbs.com/blogs/architecture-and-design/228700538

var BN=Import("zklBigNum");
var lg3 = (3.0).log()/(2.0).log(), lg5 = (5.0).log()/(2.0).log();
fcn logval(i,j,k){ lg5*k + lg3*j + i }
fcn trival(i,j,k){ BN(2).pow(i) * BN(3).pow(j) * BN(5).pow(k) }
fcn estval(n){ (6.0*lg3*lg5*n).pow(1.0/3) } #-- estimated logval, base 2
fcn rngval(n){                                                
   if(n > 500000) return(2.4496 , 0.0076);	#-- empirical estimation 
   if(n > 50000)  return(2.4424 , 0.0146);	#--   correction, base 2
   if(n > 500)	  return(2.3948 , 0.0723);	#--     (dist,width)
   if(n > 1)	  return(2.2506 , 0.2887);	#-- around (log $ sqrt 30), 
		  return(2.2506 , 0.5771);	#--   says WP
}

fcn nthHam(n){ // -> (Double, (Int, Int, Int))  #-- n: 1-based: 1,2,3...
  d,w := rngval(n);				#-- correction dist, width
  hi  := estval(n.toFloat()) - d;		#--   hi > logval > hi-w
  c,b := band(hi,w);				#-- total count, the band
  s   := b.sort(fcn(a,b){ a[0]>b[0] });		#-- sorted decreasing, result
  m   := c - n;					#-- m 0-based from top
  nb  := b.len();				#-- |band|
  res := s[m];					#-- result

  if(w >= 1) throw(Exception.Generic("Breach of contract: (w < 1):  " + w));
  if(m <  0) throw(Exception.Generic("Not enough triples generated: " +c+n));
  if(m >= nb)throw(Exception.Generic("Generated band is too narrow: " +m+nb));
  return(res);
}

fcn band(hi,w){ //--> #-- total count, the band
   b := Sink(List); cnt := 0;
   foreach k in ([0 .. (hi/lg5).floor()]){        p := lg5*k;
      foreach j in ([0 .. ((hi-p)/lg3).floor()]){ q := lg3*j + p;
         i,frac := (hi-q).modf(); r := hi-frac;		#-- r = i + q
	 cnt+=(i+1);					#-- total count
	 if(frac<w) b.write(T(r,T(i,j,k)));		#-- store it, if inside band
      }
   }
   return(cnt,b.close());
}
fcn printHam(n){
   r,t:=nthHam(n); i,j,k:=t; h:=trival(i,j,k);
   println("Hamming(%,d)-->2^%d * 3^%d * 5^%d-->\n%s".fmt(n,i,j,k,h));
}

printHam(1691);            //(5,12,3), 10 digits
printHam(0d1_000_000);     //(55,47,64), 84 digits
printHam(0d10_000_000);    //(80,92,162), 182 digits, 80 zeros at end
printHam(0d1_000_000_000); //(1334,335,404), 845 digits
Output:
Hamming(1,691)-->2^5 * 3^12 * 5^3-->
2125764000
Hamming(1,000,000)-->2^55 * 3^47 * 5^64-->
519312780448388736089589843750000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Hamming(10,000,000)-->2^80 * 3^92 * 5^162-->
162441050638304318232392153117595750351085388205966408633356724833252116013682098127901554107666015625 <80 zeros>
Hamming(1,000,000,000)-->2^1334 * 3^335 * 5^404-->
621607575556524486163081633287207200394705651908965270659163240.......

ZX Spectrum Basic

Translation of: BBC_BASIC
10 FOR h=1 TO 20: GO SUB 1000: NEXT h
20 LET h=1691: GO SUB 1000
30 STOP 
1000 REM Hamming
1010 DIM a(h)
1030 LET a(1)=1: LET x2=2: LET x3=3: LET x5=5: LET i=1: LET j=1: LET k=1
1040 FOR n=2 TO h
1050 LET m=x2
1060 IF m>x3 THEN LET m=x3
1070 IF m>x5 THEN LET m=x5
1080 LET a(n)=m
1090 IF m=x2 THEN LET i=i+1: LET x2=2*a(i)
1100 IF m=x3 THEN LET j=j+1: LET x3=3*a(j)
1110 IF m=x5 THEN LET k=k+1: LET x5=5*a(k)
1120 NEXT n
1130 PRINT "H(";h;")= ";a(h)
1140 RETURN