Common Misconceptions about Compilers
published on 2024/12/10
In this article is one some way a follow-up of a previous one on compiler optimization. Here, I've collected some misconceptions I've come across over the years (many of them mine), doing my best to clear up any confusions. As a heads up, this article is only about large-scale, mainstream, general-purpose compilers like LLVM, GCC, and ICX. Some of the statements don't apply e.g., to domain-specific compilers2 or small-to-medium-scale compilers.3 Please do let me know if you'd like to see an article on other classes of compilers.