> Memory cycle time is 1.6 microseconds; an integer register-to-register "add" instruction takes 3.2 microseconds. Ah, auld lang syne, when even the simplest p

> Memory cycle time is 1.6 microseconds; an integer register-to-register "add" instruction takes 3.2 microseconds. Ah, auld lang syne, when even the simplest processor operations were slower than memory fetch. It was coincidentally the same time when the foundational research on the computational complexity was happening, which is why many complexity analyses assume that memory access is free.