Re:Things they didn’t teach you about Software Engineering
by bluefirebrand on Saturday January 07, 2023 @01:32PM
(#34291003)
Premature optimization is much more useful as a deterrent for stuff like building complex data structures and processes to speed up looping through like 100 items.
"But it might be a million items later!"
Yeah, or the company might pivot before we ever go live with this feature. Just slap a for-loop in there and get on with your day.
For instance on your last point - I've heard that used to argue against any new technology even if it solves real problems. Rust, Bazel, React, Typescript, etc.
I would go so far as to say some of these general principles can be harmful because they are mostly used as a lazy way to defend bad decisions. E.g. "premature optimisation" is more often used to justify ignoring performance entirely than it is to stop people writing things in assembly or whatever.