Re:The Death of Optimizing Compilers
by Dewie on Saturday March 14, 2015 @02:44PM
(#9203686)
> Regarding #2, it's conventional wisdom that you can't beat a compiler, but I'm sure DJB is going to show examples where he beats the compiler significantly.
Is the fact that a compiler can beat you sometimes[1] really that controversial?
And he better have a large class of problems in which he can beat the compiler, without using too much time[2]. Or else the title is just needlessly provocative.
And thirdly: many of just rely on the compiler doing a good enough job. Not a better job than we would do if we were more careful.
[1] Or often times. Depends on who you ask, and in what domains.
[2] Or else you can just say that a programmer can beat a compiler given enough time, where time can be arbitrarily long. But all of us have some kind of time constraint.
Is the fact that a compiler can beat you sometimes[1] really that controversial?
And he better have a large class of problems in which he can beat the compiler, without using too much time[2]. Or else the title is just needlessly provocative.
And thirdly: many of just rely on the compiler doing a good enough job. Not a better job than we would do if we were more careful.
[1] Or often times. Depends on who you ask, and in what domains.
[2] Or else you can just say that a programmer can beat a compiler given enough time, where time can be arbitrarily long. But all of us have some kind of time constraint.