Optimized quoting (was Re: Speed?)

[Aahz]

In article <mailman.43.1073115353.12720.python-list at python.org>,
John Hunter  <jdhunter at ace.bsd.uchicago.edu> wrote:
>
>Donald Knuth, God of Computer Science, said "Premature optimization is
>the root of all evil".  

If Knuth is God, then Hoare is God's father:

"Premature optimization is the root of all evil in programming."
--C.A.R. Hoare (often misattributed to Knuth, who was himself quoting Hoare)

"We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time:
premature optimization is the root of all evil."  --Knuth restates Hoare
-- 
Aahz (aahz at pythoncraft.com)           <*>         http://www.pythoncraft.com/

Weinberg's Second Law: If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote 
programs, then the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization.