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The mindset of "fail fast" wasn't a thing when Knuth wrote that statement.
by mark-r 11y ago
The mindset of "fail fast" wasn't a thing when Knuth wrote that statement.
- dhimes 11y agoThis isn't "fail" so much as it is acknowledging that neither you nor your customers will know what they like until they have something to play with.
- mark-r 11y agoMy point was that Knuth wasn't considering that possibility when he wrote the quote. In those times it was assumed that if you were writing software, there was a darn good reason for it. The idea that you might write software that doesn't fulfill a compelling need is a rather modern invention.
- over 11y agoExcept that optimizing cold code is writing software that doesn't fulfill a compelling need.