Would you believe me if I claimed that an algorithm that has been on the books as "optimal" for 46 years, which has been analyzed in excruciating detail by geniuses like Knuth and taught in all computer science courses in the world, can be optimized to run 10 times faster?

Poul-Henning Kamp

Poul-Henning Kamp (of MD5, Varnish and FreeBSD fame) asks us to think again, if we think we've mastered the art of server performance. In working on the Varnish HTTP accelerator/cache, he's discovered that a supposedly "optimal" algorithm can be improved upon due to the unique side effects of virtual memory systems.

While his article goes into algorithmic complexity, it's remarkably accessible - he has a knack for explaining a dry topic in an enjoyable to read way.