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From: Paul Rudin <paul.nospam@rudin.co.uk>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.python
Subject: Re: How can I make this piece of code even faster?
Date: Sun, 21 Jul 2013 08:11:59 +0100
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Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> writes:

> On Sat, 20 Jul 2013 13:22:03 -0700, pablobarhamalzas asked:
>
> "How can I make this piece of code even faster?"
>
> - Use a faster computer.
> - Put in more memory.
> - If using Unix or Linux, decrease the "nice" priority of the process.
>
> I mention these because sometimes people forget that if you have a choice 
> between "spend 10 hours at $70 per hour to optimize code", and "spend 
> $200 to put more memory in", putting more memory in may be more cost 
> effective.
>

Sure - but it's helpful if programmers understand a little bit about the
computational complexity of algorithms. If it's just a question of
making each basic step of your algorithm a bit faster, then it may well
be better to spend money on better hardware than on squeezing more out
of your code. OTOH if you've got an n^2 implementation and there's
actually an n.log n solution available then you should probably re-code.

Of course if what you've got is actually adequate for your use-case then
it maybe that you don't actually need to do anything at all...