Rule for programming ?

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4 total messages Started by eua... Robert Lindh Sun, 25 Feb 1990 17:43

#1598

Author: eua... Robert Lindh
Date: Sun, 25 Feb 1990 17:43

8 lines
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>From a colleague: 
1:st rule                    - "Don't optimize."
2:nd rule (only for experts) - "Don't optimize........ yet." 

He heard it when he was working at Univac (appr 1977). Does anyone
know how old this 'rule' can be ?

Standard disclaimer: "Only my personal opinion, of course."

Re: Rule for programming ?

#1599

Author: p... Per Lindberg
Date: Mon, 26 Feb 1990 18:05

33 lines
1361 bytes

In article <27...@erix.ericsson.se> eua...@euas7.ericsson.se (Robert Lindh) writes:
>>From a colleague: 
>1:st rule                    - "Don't optimize."
>2:nd rule (only for experts) - "Don't optimize........ yet." 
>
>He heard it when he was working at Univac (appr 1977). Does anyone
>know how old this 'rule' can be ?

I think the original is:

FIRST LAW OF OPTIMIZATION:

	Don't do it

SECOND LAW OF OPTIMIZATION (experts only):

	Don't do it yet

...which of course are terrible puns of sorts...

"Don't do it" could eiter mean "don't do unnecessary things,
like unnecessary instructions", or "...like optimization".

The second can also mean several things, e.g. lazy evaluation
techniques.

-- 
Per Lindberg (The Mad Programmer)  !      __!__
Front Capital Systems              !  _____(_)_____  Ceci n'est pas une Piper
Linneg 5, 11447 Stockholm, Sweden  !     !  !  !

Re: Rule for programming ?

#1600

Author: Charles Green
Date: Thu, 01 Mar 1990 03:21

9 lines
956 bytes

In article <27...@erix.ericsson.se> eua...@euas7.ericsson.se (Robert Lindh) writes:
>>From a colleague: 
>1:st rule                    - "Don't optimize."
>2:nd rule (only for experts) - "Don't optimize........ yet." 

The way I heard it is:  First, make it work.  Then, make it better.
-- 
"IOUT should never be allowed to equal ILIMIT, even for a microsecond."
cha...@C3.COM	{decuac.dec.com,cucstud}!c3pe!charles	ex::!echo Boo:

Re: Rule for programming ?

#1602

Author: d... Dave Tutelman
Date: Wed, 07 Mar 1990 13:28

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It wasn't in writing, but I'd like to attribute to Clem Hergenhan
(summer 1978) the quote:

"1.5 packets per second isn't very fast, but it's a lot better than
 zero packets per second."

.... apropos a monster project whose manager was worrying about
optimizing it when it wasn't clear it could be made to work at all.

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