> Regarding #2, it's conventional wisdom that you can't beat a compiler, but I'm sure DJB is going to show examples where he beats the compiler significantly.

> Regarding #2, it's conventional wisdom that you can't beat a compiler, but I'm sure DJB is going to show examples where he beats the compiler significantly. Is the fact that a compiler can beat you sometimes[1] really that controversial? And he better have a large class of problems in which he can beat the compiler, without using too much time[2]. Or else the title is just needlessly provocative. And thirdly: many of just rely on the compiler doing a good enough job. Not a better job than we would do if we were more careful. [1] Or often times. Depends on who you ask, and in what domains. [2] Or else you can just say that a programmer can beat a compiler given enough time, where time can be arbitrarily long. But all of us have some kind of time constraint.