I sometimes write intrinsic comparisons (e.g., something like "x < 'a'" instead of "_mm_cmplt_epi8(x, _mm_set1_epi8('a'))") just to make sure the compiler under

I sometimes write intrinsic comparisons (e.g., something like "x < 'a'" instead of "_mm_cmplt_epi8(x, _mm_set1_epi8('a'))") just to make sure the compiler understands what's going on and can do that sort of transformations. (It also sometimes makes for more code sharing between e.g. x86 and NEON.)