I remember being shocked to find that every GOTO (and even a NEXT) would do a linear search for the right line number starting from the beginning of the program image.
They really, actively did not care about performance. Manifestly, it was the right choice for the time, place, and circumstances, but it is hard to see how, today.
Optimizing for time and optimizing for memory are different things. Choosing one over the other doesn't guarantee the author "did not care about performance".
Nothing guarantees anything. But the extra stuff needed to compensate for being extremely slow can often cost more than the cost not to be extremely slow.
They really, actively did not care about performance. Manifestly, it was the right choice for the time, place, and circumstances, but it is hard to see how, today.