Comment by pjmlp
5 hours ago
If we ignore optimizing compilers and UB.
"Project the need 30 years out and imagine what might be possible in the context of the exponential curves"
-- Alan Kay
5 hours ago
If we ignore optimizing compilers and UB.
"Project the need 30 years out and imagine what might be possible in the context of the exponential curves"
-- Alan Kay
Is there any compiler that "rolls the dice" when it comes to optimizations? Like, if you compile the exact same code with the exact same compiler multiple times you'll get different assembly?
And th Alan Kay quote is great but does not apply here at all? I'm pointing out how silly it is to compare LLMs to compilers. That's all.
Rolling the dice is accomplished by mixing optimizations flags, PGO data and what parts of the CPU get used.
Or by using a managed language with dynamic compiler (aka JIT) and GC. They are also not deterministic when executed, and what outcome gets produced, it is all based on heuristics and measured probabilities.
Yes, the quote does apply because many cannot grasp the idea of how technology looks beyond today.
> how silly it is to compare LLMs to compilers.
You are quite right; the former is probabilistic while the latter is not.
To paraphrase Babbage;
"I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a [comparison]."