This is an OK mental model until a wholly compliant C or C++ compiler blows it all to smithereens with an optimization exploiting UB. You gotta write C or C++

This is an OK mental model until a wholly compliant C or C++ compiler blows it all to smithereens with an optimization exploiting UB. You gotta write C or C++ for the abstract machine defined by the standards. Thinking about C in terms of some concrete assembly language or architecture can be problematic.