Efficient coding considered harmful?

[John Woods]

In article <8059 at bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU>, scs at athena.mit.edu (Steve Summit) writes:
R> I forgot to recommend The Elements of Programming Style
e> (Kernighan and Plauger) in my previous article.  If you haven't
a> read it already, do so; and read it again if you have.  It's got
d> more solid, practical advice on good style on each page than
 > you'll see on the net in a year, and it's got a whole chapter on
i> efficiency, too (relegated to the back, where it belongs).  Don't
t> let the Fortran and PL/I throw you--with a little thought all of
!> the issues being discussed can be seen still to be supremely
 > important today.

I would like to second this recommendation.  It is also the source of my
favorite quote, which happens to be on this very topic:  "Presumably it was
essential to get the wrong answer as fast as possible."
 
-- 
John Woods, Charles River Data Systems, Framingham MA, (617) 626-1101
...!decvax!frog!john, john at frog.UUCP, ...!mit-eddie!jfw, jfw at eddie.mit.edu

Science does not remove the TERROR of the Gods!