There is exactly one question you need to have in mind when optimizing a system in depth: “how can I not do this work at all?”

Using #Rust, #wasm, algorithms with nicer Big O, etc, are distractions compared to the simple fact that O(0) will beat them all.

So when you comb over a system, genuinely ask yourself why you’re doing something and what it would take to not do it at all, and only worry about alternative optimizations when you’ve exhausted all possibilities that involve skipping the work altogether.