Wellll he did say that he just wanted to save typing, so we should probably take his word for it, but preaching against optimization isn't a bad thing.

The Three Rules of Optimization
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(It is late here, and the source of these rules escapes me. Can someone fill in a source?)

Not sure, but while we're on the subject...

Two Rules of Optimization:  1. Don't do it.   2. (for experts only) Don't do it yet.

"Optimization hinders evolution" - Alan J. Perlis

"We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil." - Donald Knuth