17. A data storage device for storing data to be read by a computer system including program instructions as recited in claim 14 , wherein fusing horizontally linked nodes includes generating and substituting a single multi-word node for the fused horizontally linked nodes.
17. A data storage device for storing data to be read by a computer system including program instructions as recited in claim 14 , wherein fusing horizontally linked nodes includes generating and substituting a single multi-word node for the fused horizontally linked nodes. 18. A data storage device for storing data to be read by a computer system including program instructions as recited in claim 17 , wherein a first node is fused with a second node when, the first node is horizontally linked to the second node, each of the first and second nodes has a respective word count of one, the first node is the only predecessor node to which the second node is horizontally linked, the second node is the only successor node to which the first node is horizontally linked, and the first node has only one predecessor node horizontally linked to itself.