Depends on your GC and compiler.

I'd argue that it's a good thing to use an algorithm that is efficient in and of itself. (And perhaps a language which invites the use of such an algorithm.)

The efficiency of algorithms depends on the language / model of computation you are using.

For an extreme example, the best way to write an efficient matrix multiplication in Fortran is to write a naive matrix multiplication. The compiler will recognize the pattern, and transform it.