Performance of algorithms is always exterior to our abstractions. From a certain point of view. In other words, the abstractions don't leak, they are just not

Performance of algorithms is always exterior to our abstractions. From a certain point of view. In other words, the abstractions don't leak, they are just not up to the task of modeling optimal performance If the performance becomes pathological, to the point where the app or system is unusable, then from the point of view of the users, the abstraction is leaking. Let me put it this way. Maybe a flat Random Access Machine isn't the best mental model for certain coding tasks? Maybe there's a way we could have a cleaner abstract model that makes the pathologies visible, yet is a bit more abstract than just thinking about the actual cache?