> These are mostly O(1) things and shouldn't matter. I often hear this from programmers coming from a higher-level background. O(1) only means constant time. I

> These are mostly O(1) things and shouldn't matter. I often hear this from programmers coming from a higher-level background. O(1) only means constant time. It doesn't mean quickly. This function: int foo(int x) { sleep(3600); return x; } is O(1), just as this: int bar(int x) { return x; } Foo takes an hour to commplete, but it's just as O(1) as bar :-).