Indeed, and if you did learn these things through experience, as I supposed, then you probably did so by writing something O(2^n) and suffering when you had to

Indeed, and if you did learn these things through experience, as I supposed, then you probably did so by writing something O(2^n) and suffering when you had to process >100,000 records. (Why does it take 100 ms for 10,000 records and 50 minutes for 100,000? ... hmm) Learning these concepts through the theory is definitely more efficient.