Reflections on Software Performance An Article by Nelson Elhage blog.nelhage.com Performance is a feature Performance changes how users use software Performance needs effort throughout a project’s lifecycle Architecture strongly impacts performance Performance isn’t just about hot spots Performant foundations simplify architecture …we underrate performance when designing and building software. We have become accustomed to casually giving up factors of two or ten or more with our choices of tools and libraries, without asking if the benefits are worth it. performancesoftware
Forces of conflict A pattern which prevents us from resolving our conflicting forces leaves us almost perpetually in a state of tension. For, if we live in a world where work is separated from family life, or where courtyards turn us away, or where windows are merely holes in the wall, we experience the stress of these inner and conflicting forces constantly. We can never come to rest. We are living then, in a world so made, so patterned, that we cannot, by any stratagem, defeat the tension, solve the problem, or resolve the conflict. In this kind of world the conflicts do not go away. They stay within us, nagging, tense…The build-up of stress, however minor, stays within us. We live in a state of heightened alertness, higher stress, more adrenaline, all the time. Christopher Alexander, The Timeless Way of Building Fucking up the world