"Premature optimization is the root of all evil" is one of those programming sayings that's very often misunderstood. It does not mean that performance doesn't

"Premature optimization is the root of all evil" is one of those programming sayings that's very often misunderstood. It does not mean that performance doesn't matter or that you shouldn't think about performance. What it means is two things: (1) It's usually a waste of time to tinker with small optimizations until you've made things work and until you've profiled. (2) Don't compromise your design or write unmaintainable code out of premature concern over performance. The second is the more important and subtile meaning. It means don't let concern for performance hobble your thinking about a problem.