diff --git a/cutil/bitvec.h b/cutil/bitvec.h
index bfcc3a55..77f80c1f 100644
--- a/cutil/bitvec.h
+++ b/cutil/bitvec.h
@@ -18,11 +18,13 @@
 #ifndef   BITVEC_H
 #define   BITVEC_H
 
+#include "host.h"
+
 /**----------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Include Files and Type Defines
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------**/
 #define BITSINLONG      32       /*no of bits in a long */
-typedef unsigned int *BIT_VECTOR;
+typedef uinT32 *BIT_VECTOR;
 
 /**----------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Public Function Prototypes
@@ -67,9 +69,7 @@ BIT_VECTOR ExpandBitVector(BIT_VECTOR Vector, int NewNumBits);
 
 void FreeBitVector(BIT_VECTOR BitVector);
 
-int hamming_distance(register unsigned long *array1,
-                     register unsigned long *array2,
-                     register int length);
+int hamming_distance(uinT32* array1, uinT32* array2, int length);
 
 BIT_VECTOR NewBitVector(int NumBits);
 /*
diff --git a/wordrec/bestfirst.cpp b/wordrec/bestfirst.cpp
index efdb6d94..4c363230 100644
--- a/wordrec/bestfirst.cpp
+++ b/wordrec/bestfirst.cpp
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@
 /*----------------------------------------------------------------------
           I n c l u d e s
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------*/
+#include <assert.h>
+
 #include "bestfirst.h"
 #include "heuristic.h"
 #include "plotseg.h"
@@ -166,9 +168,9 @@ void delete_search(SEARCH_RECORD *the_search) {
   float closeness;
 
   closeness = (the_search->num_joints ?
-    (hamming_distance ((unsigned long *) the_search->first_state,
-    (unsigned long *) the_search->best_state,
-    2) / (float) the_search->num_joints) : 0.0);
+    (hamming_distance(reinterpret_cast<uinT32*>(the_search->first_state),
+                      reinterpret_cast<uinT32*>(the_search->best_state), 2) /
+      (float) the_search->num_joints) : 0.0f);
 
   record_search_status (the_search->num_states,
     the_search->before_best, closeness);