29 

    30 %regher

    31 % We can start off with a couple of observations about the role of

    32 % compilers. First, hardware is getting weirder rather than getting

    33 % clocked faster: almost all processors are multicores and it looks

    34 % like there is increasing asymmetry in resources across

    35 % cores. Processors come with vector units, crypto accelerators, bit

    36 % twiddling instructions, and lots of features to make virtualization

    37 % and concurrency work. We have DSPs, GPUs, big.little, and Xeon

    38 % Phi. This is only scratching the surface. Second, we’re getting

    39 % tired of low-level languages and their associated security

    40 % disasters, we want to write new code, to whatever extent possible,

    41 % in safer, higher-level languages. Compilers are caught right in the

    42 % middle of these opposing trends: one of their main jobs is to help

    43 % bridge the large and growing gap between increasingly high-level

    44 % languages and increasingly wacky platforms. It’s effectively a

    45 % perpetual employment act for solid compiler hackers.