> A: When the C programmer used a linked list or some O(n^2) algorithm because they didn't have a standard library full of easy to use well implemented data str

> A: When the C programmer used a linked list or some O(n^2) algorithm because they didn't have a standard library full of easy to use well implemented data structures and algorithms. I don't think so, regarding the linked list. In almost every case you'll end up with at least as much pointer indirection in Python. But yeah, if you have enough data that complexity starts mattering a worse algorithm will cause more problems.