Complexity nomenclature

[tn via Digitalmars-d]

On Friday, 4 December 2015 at 09:57:48 UTC, Jakob Ovrum wrote:
> On Friday, 4 December 2015 at 09:51:05 UTC, tn wrote:
>> "I just want to insert an element. I don't care how long it 
>> takes. Why do I need to specify that it should be linear?"
>>
>> In my opinion, there should be "constantInsert", 
>> "linearInsert", etc. for those who care about the complexity, 
>> and "insert" should be always available.
>
> In the current std.container, linearInsert aliases to the 
> sublinear insert function when it's provided. If you don't care 
> about running time, just use linearInsert.

I understand this.

However, my point is that it seems backwards if
1) When I don't care about the complexity, then I need to specify 
one (e.g. linearInsert).
2) When I care and want a constant complexity, then I don't 
specify one (e.g. use insert instead of constantInsert).

In addition, if a new container is added that only provides O(n 
log n) insert, then my "don't care" code that uses linearInsert 
does not support the new container without changes.