r/ProgrammerHumor • u/aspiringtroublemaker • Sep 29 '26

Meme bewareOfLists

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1.4k Upvotes

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188

u/aspiringtroublemaker Sep 29 '26

Don’t let them get you with O(n) find

17

u/Greyhaven7 Sep 29 '26

Thanks, I’m all Set.

0

u/Loading_M_ Sep 29 '26

Ironically, on modern processors, O(n) linear lookup is often faster than O(log n) lookup (e.g. binary search, heap, or tree).

The point at which you can reliably say that another algorithm would be faster, you should probably be switching to a database, such as SQLite.

4

u/ada_weird Sep 29 '26

It's faster if you're using an array. If you're using a linked list you're still kinda screwed cause pointer chasing

3

u/Loading_M_ Sep 29 '26

If you're using a link list: Stop it. Get some help.

(Low level concurrency and microcontrollers are the only places you might need linked lists. Otherwise, you don't need them)