I don't think so. Most modern webapps or user interfaces strives for simplicity rather than just piling feature upon feature on top of each other. HN is a great

I don't think so. Most modern webapps or user interfaces strives for simplicity rather than just piling feature upon feature on top of each other. HN is a great example of this. Efficiency can often be won by choosing the simple data structure or algorithm. There are numerous examples of the simple choice beating the complex one for all imaginable problem instances (although the advanced datastructure is faster in asymptotic behaviour). Another very important modern player is the cache. Simple and small often wins because it has better cache behaviour. Note that I am not advocating for "outright dumb". "Outright dumb" is when your search of 100.000 elements is done via a linked list. Fortunately, such blunders can often be corrected with a bit of code that does not impair the readability of the whole thing.