[oconnor663]

> inflate a codebase dramatically

This is usually only done for very specific algorithms. Unicode validation, hash functions, things like that. Unless you have an absolutely tiny application (which you might, if you're some kind of microcontroller), it's going to be a small percentage of your overall code size.

[londons_explore]

In a microcontroller, I don't think you'll be needing AVX2...

[Rebelgecko]

I'm not sure where exactly the line is drawn between a microcontroller and a CPU, but even some of the lower end ARMs support SIMD instructions.