Even though computing resources have grown by leaps and bounds over the past few decades; it seems that the amount of data has grown by even more. I have found that it is much easier to generate twice as much data needed for processing than it is to get the processing of it to run twice as fast.

When you multiply by really big numbers, the problem becomes very apparent. A wasted millisecond in a function doesn't seem like much until you call it a million times.