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[Jim Lee]

On 07/05/18 10:15, Calvin Spealman wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 5, 2018 at 12:59 PM, Jim Lee <jlee54 at gmail.com 
> <mailto:jlee54 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>
>
>     On 07/05/18 05:14, Marko Rauhamaa wrote:
>
>         Abdur-Rahmaan Janhangeer <arj.python at gmail.com
>         <mailto:arj.python at gmail.com>>:
>
>                 * Create as many functions as you can
>
>             performance?
>
>         Python?
>
>         Seriously, though. The principle of expressive encapsulation
>         is one of
>         the basic cornerstones of writing computer programs.
>         Performance barely
>         ever becomes a question, and even more rarely has anything to
>         do with
>         the number of function calls (low-level programming language
>         compilers
>         optimize efficiently).
>
>         The most important objective of software development is the
>         management
>         of complexity. Silly performance optimizations are way down
>         the priority
>         list.
>
>
>         Marko
>
>
>     Sadly, this *is* the current mindset.
>
>     "Don't bother optimizing, the compiler does it better than you can."
>
>
> I think that is a pretty clear mis-characterization of what was said.
>

Well, you did say "silly performance optimizations".

> The mindset isn't that optimization will be done for you, but that it 
> isn't high on a priority list.

Things at the bottom of a priority list tend to never get done - 
especially in the current era of software development.  And if you 
rarely or never do something, you lose the skill.  The horde of 
programmers a generation or two from now may have no clue how to do 
these things.  That's the pitfall behind "smart tools".

>     Tell me, who writes the compilers?  When we die off, nobody will
>     have a clue how to do it...
>
>     -Jim
>