I blame an over reliance on Big O as an arbiter of what is a fast algorithm. Linked lists are commonly taught as having much better insertion speed than arrays

I blame an over reliance on Big O as an arbiter of what is a fast algorithm. Linked lists are commonly taught as having much better insertion speed than arrays. This ignores constant factors and cache coherency, of course. More, it also ignores that most lists that folks will make have a VERY predictable access pattern. Typically just a one way scan, if any traversal at all. With very few inserts, and mostly just appending.