Since the architecture and instruction set has been evolving for decades, I often wonder whether the compiler is generating code for some lowly common denominator. If a sufficiently smart compiler were to compile code for the developer's most current CPU, the code will need to be recompiled for lesser systems.
ARM architectures are getting instruction set bloat and RISC-V is also tending that way with many variants being produced.
I prefer minimal syntax, e.g. Lisp, Smalltalk, Self. Then let the abstractions be plugged in with appropriate compiler support. I find the idea of blessed built-in types constrain implementation designs due to their prevalence.
If the compiler were fast enough, code could be recompiled for every deployment. With a comprehensive profiling/benchmarking test suite, it could be even more advanced; all features could be used and quirks accounted for, code/data could be optimized for cache size and bus speeds, etc.
It isn't really a compiler speed issue. There are some environments, mostly BSD to my knowledge, that support installing from sources. However, in my experience with Linux distros, wrangling multiple build tools, etc means that it is rare for
make config; make build; sudo make install
to work without having to sort out dependencies and versioning issues.
Not only that, I would like to see OS install to profile the hardware and then automagically recompile for that specific hardware. As I understand it: Linux probes for hundreds of potential devices only to load perhaps a dozen or so. I don't know how many device drivers are actually integrated into the kernel. Probably far more than is really necessary. But I'm rapidly getting out of my depth here.
ARM architectures are getting instruction set bloat and RISC-V is also tending that way with many variants being produced.
I prefer minimal syntax, e.g. Lisp, Smalltalk, Self. Then let the abstractions be plugged in with appropriate compiler support. I find the idea of blessed built-in types constrain implementation designs due to their prevalence.