This is a straw man - nobody would argue that for numerical code, efficiency is not important. Somehow, I expect that you did no code the diagonalization code by yourself.
Numerical code is actually one of the worst example you can find, because first the API is very clear, and there is little chance to have a change of spec later, making it efficient is generally purely a matter of algorithms + implementation. It is obvious the OP is talking in a context of web apps and co, where this is not true at all.
Numerical code is actually one of the worst example you can find, because first the API is very clear, and there is little chance to have a change of spec later, making it efficient is generally purely a matter of algorithms + implementation. It is obvious the OP is talking in a context of web apps and co, where this is not true at all.