> is there any example where theoretical computer science has actually been useful? Anything requiring extremely optimized algorithms will generally start in a

> is there any example where theoretical computer science has actually been useful? Anything requiring extremely optimized algorithms will generally start in academia and work its way outward as the techniques are adopted in commercial software. Sorting and compression algorithms are two examples that come to mind. Even games development which has a history of non-academic roots now borrows heavily from academic research to refine things like culling algorithms or optimized computational methods for specialized physics calculations.