Hacker News Reader

Careful with repeating mantras without reflection.

You may end up using them as arguments when they're just catchphrases that require context.

See people who used "goto considered harmful" as an absolute to never use goto (C).

“We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil. Yet we should not pass up our opportunities in that critical 3%.”

How dare you bring full quotes and context to a discussion :)

Seriously true, though. What's usually missed is the first bit, about "small efficiencies", combined with the last bit, the "critical 3%". He's basically saying don't spend time in the mass of weeds until you know where the problems really are, but conversely take the time to optimise the smaller areas that are performance-critical.

Almost the opposite of the carte-blanche overly-minimal MVPs often thrown together by those of us who forget what the V stands for.

So is premature pessimization.