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You can almost simplify it to simply observing that PREMATURE optimization is not the same as OPTIMIZATION. Most people I see who get offended are reacting to
by jerf 1y ago
You can almost simplify it to simply observing that PREMATURE optimization is not the same as OPTIMIZATION.
Most people I see who get offended are reacting to the claim that optimization is never useful. But it's pretty easy to knock that claim over.
I don't deny that plenty of people use adjectives very sloppily, and that much writing is improved by just ignoring them, but Knuth is not one of them.
- psychoslave 1y agoPreprofiling optimisation is stab in the dark. Isn't that more clear and at least as concise as the original one, also using some idiomatic metaphor while avoiding the reference to mythical dark forces.
- Mawr 1y agoBy definition anything premature is going to be bad. It's not any kind of an insight.
- godelski 1y agoA pet peeve of mine is how common it is for people to ignore qualifying words. Like you can say "most people do 'x'" and you can guarantee if you post that online people will come out of the woodwork saying "I don't do 'x'". Sure, the most claims can often be inaccurate, but those types of responses aren't helpful and aren't meaningfully responsive even if true. "Most" is just a very different word from "all". It implies a distribution but idky we often think things are discrete or binary. I also see ignoring qualifiers as a frequent cause for online arguments. They're critical words when communicating and dropping them can dramatically change what's being communicated. And of course people are fighting because they end up talking about very different things and don't even realize it. While I agree with you, that it's common for people to use these words sloppily, I think it is best to default to not ignore them. IME, in the worst case, it aids in communication as you get clarification.