I know Sufficiently Smart Compilers are a running joke, and I know a lot of people think the idea is a bad one, but come on...this should be the job of a compil

I know Sufficiently Smart Compilers are a running joke, and I know a lot of people think the idea is a bad one, but come on...this should be the job of a compiler. The first example is way more understandable. Yes, it branches, and yes it is more code and less efficient. But a compiler should be able to derive the more efficient version from the more understandable code. And it's a shame that it doesn't.