Premature Destruction of Carthage is The Root of All Evil

“Premature Optimization is the Root of All Evil” – everyone’s quoting Donald Knuth quoting Tony Hoar.

“Carthage must be destroyed” – everyone’s quoting Appian quoting Cato The Elder.

 

And what is Carthage? Who cares? We just know we must destroy it.

If you are applying for a construction job be sure they’ll ask you “What do you think of Carthage”. Rememeber: “must be destroyed”. “Carthage – destroy” – that’s all you need to know.

 

With software it’s even easier: “optimization – evil”. Now you should be prepared to answer trick questions like “When do you optmize”, “Name the most evil thing you ever did” and “At what age did you stop optimizing”.