Implement dedicated fast paths for common search patterns while maintaining a complete fallback path for edge cases. This optimization pattern significantly improves performance for frequent operations while ensuring correctness for all scenarios.

Key implementation guidelines:

  1. Identify the most common usage patterns
  2. Create type-specific or pattern-specific fast paths
  3. Maintain a complete fallback path for edge cases
  4. Consider adding configuration options for traversal depth

Example:

function optimizedSearch(values, target) {
  // Fast path for primitive type comparisons
  if (typeof target === 'number' || typeof target === 'string') {
    return values.includes(target)
  }

  // Fast path for same-type objects
  if (values.some(v => typeof v === typeof target)) {
    return values.some(v => String(v) === String(target))
  }

  // Fallback path for complex comparisons
  return values.some(v => looseEqual(v, target))
}

This pattern is especially valuable in framework code where the same operations are performed frequently. The fast paths handle common cases efficiently while the fallback ensures correctness for all scenarios.