HackerTube.dev

'Fastware' - Andrei Alexandrescu [ ACCU 2016 ]

ACCU Conference · 33.6K views · 2016-05-16 · 1:02:17

Open on YouTube ↗

If playback is restricted in your region, try opening the original video. Use Mark watched to add it to your marked videos.

Overview

Andrei Alexandrescu's ACCU 2016 talk previews material from his book on writing fast code, with a focus on optimization techniques such as sentinels and faster search.

On Hacker News

HN recommends it as a careful, entertaining talk on low-level optimization that shows how textbook algorithms can be sped up.

Recommended by 1 HN people across 1 months · HN mentions 2016–2021

Topics

Search by tags

What people said

dundarious · 2020-09 · Strong recommendation

See Alexandrescu’s Fastware talk on how amazingly sentinels can improve even textbook algorithms, and how to apply the approach intelligently. E.g., for a linear search, overwrite the last element with the sought after value, and do a tiny bit of work to make that safe and to undo it before return. If you’re skeptical, I really do encourage you to watch, he’s not sloppy. [VIDEO]

Read the original HN comment ↗
simiones · 2021-03 · Reference

Assuming you're talking about Concepts, I've heard Andrei Alexandrescu, for example, challenge that hope [0], but I'd be happy to hear this has been fixed. [0] [VIDEO]

Read the original HN comment ↗
renox · 2016-08 · Reference

Andrei Alexandrescu describe the usage of this kind of search to speed up quicksort in his 'Fastware' (fun) video: [VIDEO] Discussed here: [LINK]

Read the original HN comment ↗

Sources

Video by ACCU Conference, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

Views, duration and playback status refresh separately from the published catalog. When an update fails, existing data remains visible.

Selection checks
  • SaaS & AI candidates: Topic keywords do not match
  • Editor-approved picks: Editorial review is required

Rule matches identify candidates. They do not guarantee video quality or financial results.

About the library and its sources