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O(n^2) in Windows Management Instrumentation: https://randomascii.wordpress.com/2019/12/08/on2-again-now-in-wmi/, via https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21743424

This is why understanding algorithm analysis is important: even when the constant factors are very small (here, a nine-instruction loop), quadratic time can mean significant delays.

The post also introduces "Dawson’s first law of computing: O(n^2) is the sweet spot of badly scaling algorithms: fast enough to make it into production, but slow enough to make things fall down once it gets there."