When is optimisation premature?

Question

As Knuth said,

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

Answer 1

The point of the maxim is that, typically, optimization is convoluted and complex. And typically, you the architect/designer/programmer/maintainer need clear and concise code in order to understand what is going on.

If a particular optimization is clear and concise, feel free to experiment with it (but do go back and check whether that optimization is effective). The point is to keep the code clear and concise throughout the development process, until the benefits of performance outweigh the induced costs of writing and maintaining the optimizations.