4 ms·

All the performance in the world doesn't matter if your software doesn't work, doesn't do useful things or isn't complete. Plenty of good, useful software that

All the performance in the world doesn't matter if your software doesn't work, doesn't do useful things or isn't complete. Plenty of good, useful software that is well used is kind of slow. I don't know anyone using anything that's very fast but incorrect or unfinished software.

chrisseaton 7y ago
> All the performance in the world doesn't matter if your software doesn't work, doesn't do useful things or isn't complete. And all the functionality in the world doesn't matter if it can't deliver a result by a deadline.
- johnday 7y ago
  I'm not convinced there's much (non-real-time) software where performance places legitimate constraints on deadlines. I've seen exactly one case before, which was an ancient script running on a mainframe in a bank which took 6 hours to complete overnight. [And, by the way, correctness is still more important in this case!] But 99.999% of the time, your code's performance is not the final word.
  - falcolas 7y ago
    Here's one: "1 second of loading lag time would cost Amazon $1.6 billion in sales per year." ~Amazon Here's another: "An extra 0.5 seconds in each search page generation would cause traffic to drop by 20%" ~Google
    - jdbernard 7y ago
      Both of those pre-suppose that the software already exists and is already doing things correctly. Non-functioning software would cost Amazon all of it's sales per year.
      - falcolas 7y ago
        Why make the assumption that performant software and functional software are somehow on the opposite side of the spectrum of what's possible? The point of the article is that performance is just as important to consider in addition to functionality and correctness. To use an analogy, it's easier to make a house energy efficient if its considered from the beginning, than if it's tacked on afterwards. In fact, tacking it on afterwards is sometime impossible without a complete renovation (analogous to re-writing the software).
commandlinefan 7y ago
> is well used is kind of slow And users hate that the software is slow, and wonder why it has to be that way, but grit their teeth and deal with it because they feel like they don’t have an option. And, until software professionals start behaving like actual professionals, they won’t.
- jdbernard 7y ago
  Clearly from your comment the software is so useful that despite hating it, the users deal with the slowness. Which to me only reinforces they parent's point: correctness and availability is more important than speed. If speed were the most important thing then they wouldn't just hate it, they wouldn't use it.

chrisseaton 7y ago

> All the performance in the world doesn't matter if your software doesn't work, doesn't do useful things or isn't complete. And all the functionality in the world doesn't matter if it can't deliver a result by a deadline.

johnday 7y ago
I'm not convinced there's much (non-real-time) software where performance places legitimate constraints on deadlines. I've seen exactly one case before, which was an ancient script running on a mainframe in a bank which took 6 hours to complete overnight. [And, by the way, correctness is still more important in this case!] But 99.999% of the time, your code's performance is not the final word.
- falcolas 7y ago
  Here's one: "1 second of loading lag time would cost Amazon $1.6 billion in sales per year." ~Amazon Here's another: "An extra 0.5 seconds in each search page generation would cause traffic to drop by 20%" ~Google
  - jdbernard 7y ago
    Both of those pre-suppose that the software already exists and is already doing things correctly. Non-functioning software would cost Amazon all of it's sales per year.
    - falcolas 7y ago
      Why make the assumption that performant software and functional software are somehow on the opposite side of the spectrum of what's possible? The point of the article is that performance is just as important to consider in addition to functionality and correctness. To use an analogy, it's easier to make a house energy efficient if its considered from the beginning, than if it's tacked on afterwards. In fact, tacking it on afterwards is sometime impossible without a complete renovation (analogous to re-writing the software).

commandlinefan 7y ago

> is well used is kind of slow And users hate that the software is slow, and wonder why it has to be that way, but grit their teeth and deal with it because they feel like they don’t have an option. And, until software professionals start behaving like actual professionals, they won’t.

jdbernard 7y ago
Clearly from your comment the software is so useful that despite hating it, the users deal with the slowness. Which to me only reinforces they parent's point: correctness and availability is more important than speed. If speed were the most important thing then they wouldn't just hate it, they wouldn't use it.