A Quote by Donald Knuth

Premature optimization is the root of all evil.

Donald Knuth

Quote Topics

Evil Optimization Premature Root

Quote Author

Donald Knuth
American - Scientist
Born: January 10, 1938

Premature optimization is the root of all evil in programming.

Tony Hoare

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

Donald Knuth

We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil. Yet we should not pass up our opportunities in that critical 3%

Donald Knuth

What is evil? Killing is evil, lying is evil, slandering is evil, abuse is evil, gossip is evil, envy is evil, hatred is evil, to cling to false doctrine is evil; all these things are evil. And what is the root of evil? Desire is the root of evil, illusion is the root of evil.

Gautama Buddha

Programmers waste enormous amounts of time thinking about, or worrying about, the speed of noncritical parts of their programs, and these attempts at efficiency actually have a strong negative impact when debugging and maintenance are considered. We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil. Yet we should not pass up our opportunities in that critical 3%.

Donald Knuth

Everyone by now presumably knows about the danger of premature optimization. I think we should be just as worried about premature design - designing too early what a program should do.

Paul Graham

Idleness, we are accustomed to say, is the root of all evil. To prevent this evil, work is recommended.... Idleness as such is by no means a root of evil; on the contrary, it is truly a divine life, if one is not bored.

Soren Kierkegaard

There’s an old adage that says that money is the root of all evil. Bullshit. Lack of money is the root of all evil.

Gene Simmons

I think you can say a lot of evil behavior by companies is short-term optimization.

Sam Altman

Money is not the root of all evil...ignorance is the root of all evil. People do cruel and foolish things for money because they feel oppressed by a sense of lack. If people knew their power to generate wealth, they would never fight or hurt each other over money.

Alan Cohen

Just as it is the love of money that is the root of all evil, it is the belief in shamefulness that is the root of all misery.

Stephen Fry

Evil being the root of mystery, pain is the root of knowledge.

Simone Weil

Religion is not the root of all evil, for no one thing is the root of all anything.

Richard Dawkins

Sub-optimization is when everyone is for himself. Optimization is when everyone is working to help the company.

W. Edwards Deming

You guys are evil. Canada's the best country in the world. We go to the doctor and we don't need to worry about paying him, but here, your whole life, you're broke because of medical bills. My bodyguard's baby was premature, and now he has to pay for it. In Canada, if your baby's premature, he stays in the hospital as long as he needs to, and then you go home.