How long will it take to process 1,000? If your code is O(1), then it will still take 1 s. If it's O(lg(n)), then you'll probably be waiting about 3 s. O(n) will show a linear increase to 10 s, while an O(n lg(n)) will take some 33 s. If you're unlucky enough to have an O(n2) routine, then sit back for 100 s while it does its stuff. And if you're using an exponential algorithm O(2n), you might want to make a cup of coffee—your routine should finish in about 10263 years.
