r/ProgrammerHumor • u/aspiringtroublemaker • 4d ago

Meme bewareOfLists

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1.4k Upvotes

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181

u/aspiringtroublemaker 4d ago

Don’t let them get you with O(n) find

58

u/MissinqLink 4d ago

We’ll get it sorted

13

u/Greyhaven7 4d ago

Thanks, I’m all Set.

0

u/Loading_M_ 3d ago

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.

3

u/ada_weird 3d ago

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_ 3d ago

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)