From: Bill Kelly <billk@...>
Date: 2007-12-10T13:17:26+09:00
Subject: Re: How much would variable declarations in Ruby make you wince?


From: "Dumaiu" <Dymaio@gmail.com>
>
> Perhaps I should avoid buzzwords.  I admit that, having never
> actually looked 'optimization' up, I may define it more loosely than
> you.

For what it's worth, I'd suggest that the phrase "premature
optimization" may be more akin to canon, than buzzword, and
tends to mean something very specific.

(By canon, I mean, "the body of rules, principles, or standards
accepted as axiomatic and universally binding in a field of study
or art.")

For completeness sake, the original appearance of the phrase in
publication:

  "We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of
  the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil."

  (Knuth, Donald. Structured Programming with go to Statements,
  ACM Journal Computing Surveys, Vol 6, No. 4, Dec. 1974. p.268.)
  ((Knuth is said to have been parahprasing C.A.R. Hoare))


>  I didn't mean optimization for performance but for elegance.  �a
> ne se dit pas?  The purpose of refactoring is to improve code by
> increasing elegance, unless I seriously misunderstand.  My own
> tendency is to overthink it and try to reevaluate a design after every
> single change.  I think this is another case where balance is best.
> If you have achieved such a balance with your "cycles,"
> congratulations.  I apologize if I offended you.

I think I *was* actually offended. <grin>  But it was obviously
based on a misunderstanding.

I don't think I've achieved ideal balance yet... I'm usually
coming at it from the other direction: skipping a few refactorings
until I realize some part of the code is really bothering me, then
having to make time for a larger cleanup.  But hopefully I'm
improving.


Regards,

Bill