For me, compiler optimization is a mixed bag. On the one hand, they can facilitate the generation of higher performance runtime artifacts, but it comes at sign

For me, compiler optimization is a mixed bag. On the one hand, they can facilitate the generation of higher performance runtime artifacts, but it comes at significant cost, often I believe exceeding the value they provide. They push programs in the direction of complexity and inscrutability. They make it harder to know what a function _actually_ does, and some even have the ability to break your code. In the OP examples, instead of optimization, what I would prefer is a separate analysis tool that reports what optimizations are possible and a compiler that makes it easy to write both high level and machine code as necessary. Now instead of the compiler opaquely rewriting your code for you, it helps guide you into writing optimal code at the source level. This, for me, leads to a better equilibrium where you are able to express your intent at a high level and then, as needed, you can perform lower level optimizations in a transparent and deterministic way. For me, the big value of existing optimizing compilers is that I can use them to figure out what instructions might be optimal for my use case and then I can directly write those instructions where the highest performance is needed. But I do not need to subject myself to the slow compilation times (which compounds as the compiler repeatedly reoptimizes the same function thousands of times during development -- a cost that is repeated with every single compilation of the file) nor the possibility that the optimizer breaks my code in an opaque way that I won't notice until something bad and inscrutable happens at runtime.