This module examines the impact of programming style, programming languages, and language implementation on efficiency. These matters are largely unrelated to algorithmic complexity, so they are seldom discussed in courses on algorithms and data structures.

Programmers often form opinions based on what they have heard from other programmers or have read on the World-Wide Web. Much of that conventional wisdom is misleading or, in some cases, quite wrong.

The main goal of this module is to encourage you to adopt a more skeptical and empirical approach to what you may hear or read.