And the flip side is that STOKE and friends can find new, faster ways to compile code... only for short snippets :). That said, compilers and superoptimizers c

And the flip side is that STOKE and friends can find new, faster ways to compile code... only for short snippets :). That said, compilers and superoptimizers can go together well. One of my favorite examples is using program synthesis to generate peephole optimization rules for a compiler[1]. The synthesis step takes a long time and only works for short snippets, but if you can turn the results of that into rules a compiler's optimization system can use, you only have to pay the synthesis cost once and the compiler can apply those rules to speed up large programs. [1]: http://www.cse.iitd.ac.in/~sbansal/pubs/asplos06.pdf http://www.cse.iitd.ac.in/~sbansal/pubs/asplos06.pdf