Dawkins has said that the title The Root of All Evil? was not his preferred choice, but that Channel 4 had insisted on it to create controversy.[1] The sole concession from the producers on the title was the addition of the question mark. Dawkins has stated that the notion of anything being the root of all evil is ridiculous.[2] Dawkins' book The God Delusion, released in September 2006, goes on to examine the topics raised in the documentary in greater detail. The documentary was rebroadcast on the More4 channel on 25 August 2010 under the title of The God Delusion.[3]
Paul is trying to warn Christians about the danger of having a love for money. He is not saying that having a lot of money is evil, but that loving money is going to motivate various kinds of evils in your life. By evil, Paul is referring to morally reprehensible behavior.
The The Root Of All Evil
Paul is warning Timothy (and therefore the church in Ephesus) about the love of money, not money itself. Paul says that this love for money is a root of all kinds of evil. The word for root literally refers to the part of a plant that is below ground. Here, Paul uses a figurative extension that refers to the reason or cause of something.
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
There is no doubt that the grail of efficiency leads to abuse. Programmers waste enormous amounts of time thinking about, or worrying about, the speed of noncritical parts of their programs, and these attempts at efficiency actually have a strong negative impact when debugging and maintenance are considered. We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil.
Not all early optimizations are evil, micro optimizations are evil if done at the wrong time in the development life cycle, as they can negatively affect architecture, can negatively affect initial productivity, can be irrelevant performance wise or even have a detrimental effect at the end of development due to different environment conditions.
In your case, it seems like a little programmer time was already spent, the code was not too complex (a guess from your comment that everyone on the team would be able to understand), and the code is a bit more future proof (being thread safe now, if I understood your description). Sounds like only a little evil. :)
Thus, in general, I think the right approach is to find out what your options are before you start writing code, and consciously choose the best algorithm for your situation. Most importantly, the phrase "premature optimization is the root of all evil" is no excuse for ignorance. Career developers should have a general idea of how much common operations cost; they should know, for example,
Having plenty of knowledge and a personal toolbox enables you to optimize almost effortlessly. Putting a lot of effort into an optimization that might be unnecessary is evil (and I admit to falling into that trap more than once). But when optimization is as easy as picking a set/hashtable instead of an array, or storing a list of numbers in double[] instead of string[], then why not? I might be disagreeing with Knuth here, I'm not sure, but I think he was talking about low-level optimization whereas I am talking about high-level optimization.
In 1976 we were still debating the optimal ways of calculating a square root or sorting a large array and Don Knuth's adage was directed at the mistake of focusing on optimizing that sort of low level routine early in the design process rather than focusing on solving the problem and then optimizing localized regions of code.
But in general optimization leads to less readable and less understandable code and should be applied only when necessary. A simple example - if you know that you have to sort only a couple of elements - then use BubbleSort. But if you suspect that the elements could increase and you don't know how much, then optimizing with QuickSort (for example) is not evil, but a must. And this should be considered during the design of the program.
I suppose it depends on how you define "premature". Making low-level functionality quick when you're writing is not inherently evil. I think that's a misunderstanding of the quote. Sometimes I think that quote could do with some more qualification. I'd echo m_pGladiator's comments about readability though.
There is no doubt that the holy grail of efficiency leads to abuse. Programmers waste enormous amounts of time thinking about, or worrying about, the speed of noncritical parts of their programs, and these attempts at efficiency actually have a strong negative impact when debugging and maintenance are considered. We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil.
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.
There are also quite a lot more coverage on the page of creatures, most notably the main categories of outsider (angel, demon, devil, quori, etc), full coverage on the different Homunculi & how to make them, as well as most of the critters the players have encountered thus far.
God assures us His provision, yet we strive to earn a monetary living. No amount of wealth can satisfy our souls. No matter what earthly wealth or object we are looking for, we were made to crave more of our Creator. The love of money is evil because we are commanded to have no other gods besides the one, true God.
Money is not the root of all evil. It is a necessary part of life. However, the love of money can be destructive. When people become obsessed with money, they will do anything to get their hands on it, even harming others. This kind of activity is the "love of money." It is a dangerous thing that can lead to problems in our lives. This blog post will discuss the idea of how to view money and utilize it for the betterment of our lives instead of seeing it as an antagonistic force.
You must have heard of the statement, "Money is the root of all evil." But, before taking this idea in your head and incorporating it into your life, let's do a deeper analysis of the true meaning of this statement.
The statement, "Money is the root of all evil," comes from a biblical verse under 1 Timothy 6. The 10th verse of this chapter states, "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." Look closely at this verse, and you will notice the omission of one word, which outright changes the meaning of the statement we are talking about: love. The statement should be like this: The love of money is the root of all evil. Removing the word "love" makes money look like an antagonistic entity. How can a piece of paper, coin, or digital figure do evil by itself? The love of money and what people choose to do can bring evil and harmful desires. It's essential that the statement's true meaning becomes apparent as it can affect your mindset and actions in life and how you view progress and growth in life.
There's a problem when you seriously consider the statement, "Money is the root of all evil." It promotes anti-growth. Based on this, possessing lots of money is evil. Therefore, being a rich man is sinful. One can justify being poor by going along the misinterpretation of the Bible verse. So one won't have to strive to work hard to accumulate more wealth since it can be seen as a sinful act. There's a danger to this kind of mentality as it promotes laziness and shaming those who become rich through their efforts. Money is a means to gain access to better opportunities and move us closer to success. Without it, there won't be any people who can establish companies that provide jobs to other people, philanthropists, and good-willed people who donate money for a good cause.
Let us reiterate that the love of money is what can bring evil. However, money by itself can't do any harm. Money only serves to magnify the true nature of a person. It can act as a trigger, but only if you allow evil to take hold of you. The love of money can bring harm in several ways.
Money is a part of life, and how we view and use it can dictate whether it's a good or bad entity to us. By itself, money is bereft of any moral value. However, our actions and our decisions regarding its usage ascribes its value. When used wisely, money is an effective tool that will let us do good and achieve success in life. However, misusing money can lead to negative consequences that can harm society and put others in trouble, including ourselves. It would help if you put the right idea in your head and not blame an inanimate object as the root of all evil when it's the person who can do immoral acts by giving in to urges. Instead, focus on how you can put money to good use and for the betterment of your own life and other people.
ESV: But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. 2ff7e9595c
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