Path: csiph.com!weretis.net!feeder9.news.weretis.net!news.misty.com!news.iecc.com!.POSTED.news.iecc.com!nerds-end From: Derek M Jones Newsgroups: comp.compilers Subject: Re: EDG open source C++ front end Date: Tue, 06 Oct 2026 22:00:27 +0100 Organization: Compilers Central Sender: johnl%iecc.com Approved: comp.compilers@iecc.com Message-ID: <26-10-007@comp.compilers> References: <26-10-002@comp.compilers> <26-10-003@comp.compilers> <26-10-004@comp.compilers> <26-10-006@comp.compilers> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Injection-Info: gal.iecc.com; posting-host="news.iecc.com:2001:470:1f07:1126:0:676f:7373:6970"; logging-data="87552"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@iecc.com" Keywords: tools, design Posted-Date: 06 Oct 2026 22:19:16 EDT X-submission-address: compilers@iecc.com X-moderator-address: compilers-request@iecc.com X-FAQ-and-archives: http://compilers.iecc.com In-Reply-To: <26-10-006@comp.compilers> Xref: csiph.com comp.compilers:3772 Anton, > My sentence was phrased in a misleading way. What I meant is: Not the > prompts (or not only), but primarily the generated code is stored in > the version control systems. Imagine if, when high level languages were new, that companies stored the compiler generated assembler in the version control system, rather than the source code. It is the specification used to generate the source that needs to be stored. The source is currently stored because coding agents are unreliable, and following existing practice is the lowest friction route. > I.e., the companies that use AI in > programming see a value in the code in a language that's higher-level > than assembly language or machine code. If coding agents become reliable, the generated source becomes as interesting as the assembler generated by compilers. > What would the advantage be? Can the LLM generate the assembly > language more cheaply than what we get with the workflow that AI > generates "high-level code and the compiler generates assembly/machine > code"? Going to assembler will certainly require more tokens. Can coding agents generate smaller and/or more efficient assembler compared to going via source/compiler? We shall see. > What about human review that still happens AFAIK? What about > programs that need to run on several architectures? The review should happen at the specification stage. English is the new source code (probably some controlled). -- Derek M. Jones Evidence-based software engineering blog:https://shape-of-code.com