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Depends, for example if the variable that selects between the two implementations is a compile time constant (#define or constexpr variable) the compiler can really remove the conditional and all the code of the choice that is not always selected leading to higher performance and smaller footprint.

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It doesn’t matter. You’re saving nanoseconds when a db access costs milliseconds. Better to focus on making the code easy to understand and change and focus your effort on optimizing the database.

you are hyperfocusing on a single example. there are contexts where it matters and others where it doesnt sure, but i dont think either approach is inherently easier to understand or maintain

The only context where the overhead of a virtual function call matters is in tight inner loops.

That's by far the easiest place to apply the "write something simple and readable and then measure and see if you need to change it" approach, so it just plainly doesn't work as argument against that approach.

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