The steps to iterate the array should impose no overhead on a superscalar processor. It’s a different situation on a simple embedded processor, but the range of

The steps to iterate the array should impose no overhead on a superscalar processor. It’s a different situation on a simple embedded processor, but the range of possible answers for memory:ALU ratios, cache line size, cache latency, allocation patterns, MMU behavior and some other factors make this an ill-posed question. Pedantic nitpick: that is not the simplest LL algorithm. It is more complex than empty().