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0 pointsdogleash10d ago0 comments

To the extent that's true, it's already a problem plaguing the profession.

I wouldn't advocate for using different tools, but everyone should be able to reason about the machine instructions underlying their code. Both in the immediate sense of the assembly a simple function turns into, and the tricks language runtimes use to enable their neat features.

The attitude that things are magic is poison. There is a difference between feeling confident something is comprehensible and not yet needing to go learn it, vs resigning to a position of powerlessness.

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ijk10d ago

I agree in principle, but every time I run a debugger on modern C++ it makes it clear that, rather than being a simple and cutesy transformation, "compiler optimization" is actually black magic.

skydhash10d ago

It’s not. You “only” have to learn about computer architecture and computation theory. Meaning a lot of maths /s

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ijk10d ago

I agree in principle, but every time I run a debugger on modern C++ it makes it clear that, rather than being a simple and cutesy transformation, "compiler optimization" is actually black magic.

skydhash10d ago

It’s not. You “only” have to learn about computer architecture and computation theory. Meaning a lot of maths /s

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse