“Premature optimization” is a phrase used to describe a situation where a programmer lets performance considerations affect the design of a piece of code. This can result in a design that is not as clean as it could have been or code that is incorrect, because the code is complicated by the optimization and the programmer is distracted by optimizing.
Does that sound like the point you’re trying to explain?
I think that’s related, but different. I really like the quote though!
The difference is that I don’t necessarily think the “design” (in this case I guess overall life structure) will be less clean if you micro-optimize, but it will take away cognitive and habit-forming resources away from the things that are actually important.
Although I suppose in the limit of absurd amounts of micro-optimization, it might indeed lead to a pretty cluttered life...
Knuth famously said
Wikipedia explains:
Does that sound like the point you’re trying to explain?
I think that’s related, but different. I really like the quote though!
The difference is that I don’t necessarily think the “design” (in this case I guess overall life structure) will be less clean if you micro-optimize, but it will take away cognitive and habit-forming resources away from the things that are actually important.
Although I suppose in the limit of absurd amounts of micro-optimization, it might indeed lead to a pretty cluttered life...