>>The bulk that went down the wire was significantly reduced - the nearly cartesian product size vs sum of its factors - and that was all the speed gain I needed. Squeezing extra permille by juggling parameters would be an exercise in reduced gains.
AKA no principle is absolute, not even this one. ;-)
Agreed. As time goes by I realize that the difference between intellect and rote/cult often comes down to a single word: context. As soon as supporters of an idea accept that others can have their own context, flame wars are clearly anti-science and nothing can ever be called settled- not even the obvious truth that you cannot split an atom. ;-)
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
