Conspiracy Theory #1

[Andrei Alexandrescu]

Travis Boucher wrote:
> Andrei Alexandrescu wrote:
>>
>> Today that reality is very visible already from certain spots. I've 
>> recently switched fields from machine learning/nlp research to 
>> web/industry. Although the fields are apparently very different, they 
>> have a lot in common, along with the simple adage that obsession with 
>> performance is a survival skill that (according to all trend 
>> extrapolations I could gather) is projected to become more, not less, 
>> important.
>>
>>
>> Andrei
> 
> Except in the web world performance is network and parallelism (cloud 
> computing). Much less code efficiency, much more programmer productivity 
> (which currently is mutually exclusive, but doesn't have to be)

You'd be extremely surprised. With Akamai delivery and enough CPUs, it 
really boils down to sheer code optimization. Studies have shown that 
artificially inserted delays on the order of tens/hundreds of 
milliseconds influence user behavior on the site dramatically.

Andrei