Performance Optimization

Overview

Measure first, optimize second. Never optimize without data. The bottleneck is almost never where you think it is.

When to Use

• Code is measurably slow or resource-heavy
• Profiling has revealed specific bottlenecks
• Designing a system with known performance requirements
• Reviewing code for performance before production

When NOT to Use

• You "feel like" code might be slow but haven't measured
• Premature optimization during initial implementation
• Micro-optimizations that don't move the needle