Premature Optimization Is The Root Of All Evil
Source: “Premature optimization is the root of all evil” More and more, I’m realizing th… | Hacker News
Abstraction is a form of optimization and shouldn’t be done before the space has been properly explored to know what abstractions should be built. Standardization is a form of optimization and shouldn’t be proposed until there’s a body of evidence to support what’s being standardized.
Failure to validate a product before building it? Premature optimization.
Build infrastructure without understanding the use case? Premature optimization.
Build tools before using them for your end product/project? Premature optimization.
This advice comes in different forms: “Progress over perfection”, “Iteration quickly”, “Move fast and break things”, “Don’t let perfection be the enemy of good enough”, etc. but I find the umbrella statement of not prematurely optimizing to encompass them all.
Created from: In Defense Of Tags In My Zettelkasten 202204101843
uid: 202204101914 tags: #insights