I repeat, I see nothing there that says "don't optimize for performance". It says "if you want performance don't do X because X is not a reasonable sacrifice".

I repeat, I see nothing there that says "don't optimize for performance". It says "if you want performance don't do X because X is not a reasonable sacrifice". Then he linked to some better ones. If you watch the linked talk, "write simple code when given the choice between simple and complex code" seems like fijal's main suggestion (and in my limited experience with PyPy has worked for me). The other main suggestion that I assume is underlying is "if you want performance try PyPy". Neither of those require sacrificing abstraction. Some of Guido's suggestions do.