> An example of unnecessary generality is provided by the requirement that all procedures should be recursive. In ordinary computing -as distinct from symbol manipulation- it will be found that the need for procedures to be recursive is the exception rather than the rule, and the requirement that all procedures should be recursive leads to inefficiency, since a recursive procedure is both longer and slower than a nonrecursive one.

I wonder which things we currently optimise in the name of smaller and faster will seem as quaint six decades hence?