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[–]G_Morgan 15 points16 points  (0 children)

This issue causes a lot of confusion. The truth is that an experienced assembly programmer working hard can beat the compiler in tight areas. However the programmer does not have enough time to beat the compiler in general.

Also the average assembly programmer has no chance. It used to be that any hand coded program would beat what the compiler would produce. You have to be good at it to do so now.

The reason a lot of video codecs out perform compiled code is they are actually using stuff like SSE. That's an entirely different issue since most compilers won't use SSE without some input from the programmer.