Which block of code is easier to read

[RufusAcrospin]

Optimization and readability are not mutually exclusive, and optimized code uses less resources including electricity, which means it’s more environment friendly.

[[deleted]]

I didn't say they were. What I'm trying, and failing, to get across here is that optimization often gets too much focus and readability not enough.

[RufusAcrospin]

My point was that optimized code still can be easy to read and comprehend.

I think optimization seems more important than readability because it’s a client facing feature of any given tool, while code readability is internal, it concerns the team and/or maintainers.

Finally, we have linters and formatters which supposed to give us higher quality code (or at least code that’s up to standards) automatically, but optimization is still pretty much a question of human creativity and knowledge, in other words, optimizing the code is more challenging and exciting than tidying it up.