Jonathan de Boyne Pollard wrote in a message to Peter Fitzsimmons:

 JdBP>   IBM VisualAge C++ may seem a lot slower than Borland C++,
 JdBP> but that's   not because its optimiser is working its little
 JdBP> brains out.  It's   because the compiler is so damned *big*
 JdBP> that it is thrashing your   system to death.

Here in the U.S., it was popular for many years to remove mufflers from
cars.  That may have really marginally improved engine power at one time
decades ago, but the real motivation was that cars sounded more powerful if
they could make a lot of loud, obnoxious noise, regardless of whether they
were.  C compilers follow the same design principle.
 
-- Mike


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