you'll know it when you need it ... seriously. unless you really know what you want and what you are doing the chances of outsmarting the compiler are very very

you'll know it when you need it ... seriously. unless you really know what you want and what you are doing the chances of outsmarting the compiler are very very slim. there's a rather old but good video about this very topic that i just remembered: http://media.ccc.de/browse/conferences/camp2007/cccamp07-en-1952-Know_your_compiler.html http://media.ccc.de/browse/conferences/camp2007/cccamp07-en-... and i think these are the corresponding slides: http://www.fefe.de/know-your-compiler.pdf http://www.fefe.de/know-your-compiler.pdf