No need to downvote, guys. The C language specification [0] defines an abstract machine and defines C semantics in terms of this machine. 5.1.2.3 §1: > The se

No need to downvote, guys. The C language specification [0] defines an abstract machine and defines C semantics in terms of this machine. 5.1.2.3 §1: > The semantic descriptions in this International Standard describe the behavior of an abstract machine in which issues of optimization are irrelevant. [0] http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n1570.pdf http://www.open-std.org/jtc1/sc22/wg14/www/docs/n1570.pdf