It has mostly to do with the extremely tight requirements. For instance nowadays the hashmap is the single most popular datastructure but it's rather memory int

It has mostly to do with the extremely tight requirements. For instance nowadays the hashmap is the single most popular datastructure but it's rather memory intense compared to plain arrays (even when implemented via a backing array). Having enough memory changed the development process a lot. Apple II had 48KB for everything (incl. video buffer). Many things became a lot easier with the resource abundance like having flat memory model with the 32bit systems in a stark contrast via the segment switch on 8086.