3 ms·
When I first got the black book, I wanted to skip over the first chapter and get to "the good stuff", but forced myself to read it. It was the most useful info
by mysterydip 6y ago
When I first got the black book, I wanted to skip over the first chapter and get to "the good stuff", but forced myself to read it. It was the most useful info in that book (even more obvious today as few use the kinds of tricks found in the remainder): you can take hours/days/longer optimizing to the nth degree some algorithm that is used in a for loop, but better still is taking a bigger picture look and finding out you can accomplish the same thing a different way without needing the for loop at all.
- touisteur 6y agoThere, you said it. It's one of the best books on computer science, hacking, software engineering, high performance software... But my favorite part is always those chapter starters. Light philosophy and stories about taking a step back, looking for your own bias, measuring first then optimizing, trust but verify... I also appreciate how he always gave credit, and it was kind of funny to see him always impressed by John Carmack. I wish I could meet him one day but I expect my brain would empty out and I'd just stay there nerd-giggling and gushing.