Honestly these are not optimizations at all, but rather architectural decisions. Large architectural decisions are generally best made at the outset, based on

Honestly these are not optimizations at all, but rather architectural decisions. Large architectural decisions are generally best made at the outset, based on problem domain analysis. They are costly to change later. Like so many others, the author appears to be latching on to the phrase "premature optimization" as a popular buzzword (buzz...phrase?). This is so far from what Knuth actually wrote in his book that it hurts.