14 votes

Premature optimization: Universally misunderstood

3 comments

  1. aditya
    Link

    It’s very common for statements to lose their original meaning when context has been stripped and that’s exactly what happened here.

    We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil.

    – Sir Tony Hoare

    The short version is missing a crucial part: “small efficiencies”. At the time the quote was made, “small efficiencies” referred to techniques like minimising the number of instructions used.

    7 votes
  2. xk3
    Link
    premature micro-optimization is the root of all evil. perhaps mature optimization is not writing code when the problem can be solved without technology

    premature micro-optimization is the root of all evil.

    perhaps mature optimization is not writing code when the problem can be solved without technology

    1 vote
  3. Minty
    Link
    —practically everyone, 2023, colorized

    "No need to worry about efficiency, for our new app we'll use this network of virtual machines and the amount of RAM exceeding the combined amount available globally in 2003 for now and just optimize it later, when we don't have to meet deadlines"

    —practically everyone, 2023, colorized

    1 vote