I am not convinced that's at all true but we don't know what the context for such a claim was.I watch a lecture series on YouTube about writing compilers, and the instructor pointed out that compilers can't optimise at the assembly code level because... reasons.
It seems to me most compilers should be able to optimise at the assembly code level if they chose to. Most dumb compilers would likely add peephole optimisation for assembly code before developing higher level optimisations. It is possible to do redundant code removal, in-lining, code folding, de-duplication and re-ordering, at the assembler code level.
How effective optimisation at assembly code level is would depend on how good the higher level optimisation is, what assembly code were being emitted.
Statistics: Posted by hippy — Thu Jan 02, 2025 5:42 pm