A note for those not consumed by efficiency worries

[Michael T. Sullivan]

:From article <1990Mar21.061420.9862 at athena.mit.edu>, by scs at athena.mit.edu (Steve Summit):
> 
> I know y'all know this, as in fact I know that there are times
> when efficiency does matter.  I just feel compelled to scramble
> up on this soapbox from time to time to make sure that the other
> side gets heard.  The industry is not plagued by software that is
> too slow.  It is plagued by software that is behind schedule,
> full of bugs, and impossible to maintain.  Too many programmers
> seize upon the flimsiest excuses to abandon clean, simple coding
> in favor of some purportedly more efficient implementation, which
> is why I get defensive whenever efficiency is discussed.

Agreed.  I often see programmers who spend a lot of time trying to
speed up code that isn't causing a slowdown, and in fact there isn't
a slowdown in the first place.  Heck, I know people who don't want
to use shell scripts becasue they are slower than C.  But for what
shell scripts are used for, speed doesn't matter.  Same with a lot
of programs.  Most programs don't need to be sped up at all.  If
one does, THEN start micro-optimization but don't trash a program's
modularity and portability because of an imagined slowdown.
-- 
Michael Sullivan          uunet!jarthur!aqdata!sullivan
aQdata, Inc.              sullivan at aqdata.uucp
San Dimas, CA             +1 714 599 9992