premature optimization
premature optimization noun: the act of wasting resources on optimising source code that does not represent a significant bottleneck.
Noun
premature optimization (countable and uncountable, plural premature optimizations)
- The act of wasting resources on optimising source code that does not represent a significant bottleneck.
- The real problem is that programmers have spent far too much time worrying about efficiency in the wrong places and at the wrong times; premature optimization is the root of all evil (or at least most of it) in programming.1973, Donald Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming
- Similar to engineering, premature optimization can cause you to focus on items that don’t materially affect your outcome and can divert your attention away from those that do.2016, Amitt Mahajan, Why you’re mispricing your VR seed round, VentureBeat
Forms of premature optimization
| plural | premature optimizations |
|---|---|
| alternative form | premature optimisation |
Origin of premature optimization
It was first coined by Donald Knuth in his 1974 monograph The Art of Computer Programming which won a Turing Award.
Questions about premature optimization
- What does premature optimization mean?
- Premature optimization means the act of wasting resources on optimising source code that does not represent a significant bottleneck.
- What part of speech is premature optimization?
- Premature optimization is a noun.
- What is the plural of premature optimization?
- The plural of premature optimization is premature optimizations.
Words near premature optimization in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: premature optimization (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “premature optimization.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/premature_optimization. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.