A post this ignorant and reductive is something I would expect from a freshman student of computer science, not a professor. Embarrassing.
And I've been a huge fan of his.
He just comes off as really removed from whole program and language wide thinking — and maybe he's just a bit too distanced from it given his specialty.
In general, the ability to search human knowledge (especially in deeply technical fields) has vastly outstripped the generation of such knowledge.
I categorically deny that anyone should ever be embarrassed for not knowing anything. For attempting plans without bothering to find out, maybe. Or for claiming to know things they don't. But not for the ignorance itself.
A serious person would have at least drilled down into the assembly, this is just an incredibly childish experiment with no follow-up.
And it kinda makes sense given the tremendous pay gap between the academia and industry in Computer Science. So if instead of joining a startup or a corporate research team, you decide to sit in a University job, you are either lazy, or don't like accountability, or both. Sorry.
I would describe this blog post as an initial note on an investigation in progress, rather than a report of a completed investigation. You can see that he did take apart the program and systematically analyze its performance; he just hasn't gotten far enough yet to see if the problem is the C++ compiler or, say, iostream.
Since you've put yourself in the position of measuring your dick against Lemire's, what's your most influential research publication?
Nope, it only works as long as you play along with the political games the University administration is playing. Speak out too much and you will find problems getting funding/equipment/people and will be stuck in a basement office working on a 10-year-old laptop.
It gets worse, if you refuse to kiss ass to a particular boss in industry, you can always shop around and find another job. As long as you are competent and know how to sell yourself, you will be fine. In academia, one ruined relation can permanently screw up your entire career. I wouldn't call it freedom. I would dare say, a fairly recognizable blog in a relevant area, and a professional network of ~50 people will give you orders of magnitude more freedom than any kind of academic track record.
>Since you've put yourself in the position of measuring your dick against Lemire's, what's your most influential research publication?
Well, I didn't start it, but since you want to engage in penisometry, I managed to create a product and build a business around it, that pays more than a salaried job would. And I would dare say, comparing academic citations to paying customers is like being paid in monopoly money vs. the real thing. But I realize that the risk/reward ratio of this approach is not for everyone, so I normally prefer to keep my dick in my pants.
PS The author is... not just any professor.
He could have avoided writing all that nonsense by using a C++ compiler on his "C" code with 100% the same machine code being generated.