Moreover "best" implies all measured domains, not just algorithimic efficiency (which itself can be split into a half-dozen concerns such as linear speed, abili

Moreover "best" implies all measured domains, not just algorithimic efficiency (which itself can be split into a half-dozen concerns such as linear speed, ability to be distributed, memory use, disk use, suitability to input patterns, i.e. all the reasons there are hundreds of sorting algorithms). Code complexity? Ease of testing? Compatibility/leveraging of tools? Apropos for your programmer ability? Apropos for non-programmers if it crosses out of pure programming? Best practice is definitely a weasel word. Something that should be qualified with what is being optimized, what prompted its adoption, and comparisons to other approaches that highlight/justify its use. It also falsely implies there is no better candidate out there (another computer science irony: your "best practice" has been proven via magical super-turing computation to truly be the best ever?). It assumes false authority. Really, they are only good for setting a reasonable standard and moving forward rather than constant bikeshedding.