I don't think this is an "ill-considered comment" at all. Daniel J. Bernstein made the same comment in his slides about "the slow death of the optimizing compi

I don't think this is an "ill-considered comment" at all. Daniel J. Bernstein made the same comment in his slides about "the slow death of the optimizing compiler"[ https://cr.yp.to/talks/2015.04.16/slides-djb-20150416-a4.pdf https://cr.yp.to/talks/2015.04.16/slides-djb-20150416-a4.pdf ]. Basically, a lot of programs are I/O bound. Those that aren't are often dominated by a tiny amount of super-hot spots that can be optimized by hand via assembly language. Most code is "freezing cold" -- it's hardly worth optimizing. C compilers are giving up safety and getting very little in return, except shiny new compiler benchmarks.