[martamoreno2]

I wonder if he does realize that CS uses this thing called O-notation, it's really useful. So a 10x factor by the very definition of complexity theory is a zero sum game. Nobody cares. You implementation might be faster if it is optimized for a certain architecture, CPU instructions, CPU cache and so forth. It literally doesn't mean anything, it has certainly nothing to do with being more "efficient" or with Knuth not being able to make it more efficient. Optimality is discussed in O-notation, not some contrived laboratory constant factors in front of it.

[kstrauser]

People writing the AWS checks care a whole awful lot about that insignificant constant.