Happy 10th Birthday Compiler Explorer

Congratulations! Compiler Explorer has been immensely useful to me over the years. I often use it to reassure myself that simple code optimizes as expected (so manual optimization would not just be premature, but pointless). It inspired me to build a similar tool at work for FIDL: https://fuchsia.googlesource.com/fidlbolt/+/refs/heads/main. I believe your last name has become a noun too — I sometimes forget it’s called Compiler Explorer since everyone I know just calls it Godbolt.

Oh my gosh. Thanks for all the lovely comments! I'll definitely be saving these up for any dark moments! Thanks all!

One of my favorite moments at work was coming back to see half the team gathered around one computer, chuckling to each other.

The guy at the keyboard said "now watch this!", hit a few keys, and the team erupted in raucous laughter.

I went over to see what they were looking at. It was an assembly listing from Compiler Explorer.

"Just godbolt it" has indeed become a phrase in my circle. Compiler explorer is a great reminder that sometimes it is indeed about the UX for system tools that allows you to make a huge impact

I'm training a new hire in C++ at the moment. I always go to compiler explorer when I break out a new concept for him. We can workshop the problem in isolation quickly and simply and then bookmark the solution for him to use as reference later. For this purpose it is just a few steps simpler than GIT + CMAKE + TERMINAL

As one of those people who also uses "godbolt" as a verb, I am very grateful for the time Matt and the other contributors are pouring into CE. It's awesome to see this project flourish!

As a C++ dev, compiler explorer has been a great tool. Not only for quick checks, or playing around with new C++ features via small programs; even for code reviews it's a great way to show why doing something in a particular way is better via a snippet on compiler explorer.

I am in the same industry as Matt, and at my firm we use it a lot, all the time, to discuss things related to C++ features, and sometimes the quirks of the language/compilers.

Some tools inspire simply by existing ("... oh yeah, and then we could use godbolt, and ..."). Just as some tooling gaps discourage ("... aannd then we'd hit the same old familiar problem of X, sigh"). So broader impact can extend even beyond use and its results. Thanks for all the years of fish, both caught and dreamt.

Matt Godbolt is a gem! If you haven’t checked out his podcast[0] with Ben Rady, it’s one of my personal favorites. It’s not specifically tied to C++, but it’s a lot of fun to hear two hosts who love thinking about programming.

[0] https://www.twoscomplement.org/

Legit one of the best websites around and I have seen a website or two (not more than like five).

I use godbolt (I dont call it compiler explorer) almost every day.

It's just great and extremely useful:)! Thanks for it

Compiler Explorer was used to teach some basics of compiler optimization in my computer architecture class a couple of years ago, but the About Me page was the first time I had heard about SWEs working in quantitative finance. I'm starting at a trading firm in a couple of weeks, so thank you Matt Godbolt for sending me down that particular rabbithole!

Thanks, Matt!

Godbolt is really one of the most useful web tools I've ever used, a massive thank you for the service.

Ah, so Godbolt is some guy's last name? That's really cool.