[sebastos]

I think the reason it's like this is because the C++ maintainers are super focused on noticing whenever there is a choice to be made, and being careful not to make it for you. Given the option between foisting situationally bad performance on you and foisting lots of syntax and interface complexity on you, they always choose the latter. Which I suppose makes sense: C++ niche is that it's the Big Gun you pull out when there's serious work to be done. So they figure you're already going to be dealing with massive complexity anyway, and you're going to be prepared for it. May as well let give you _all_ the access rather than fumbling at the 1 yard line by making some opinionated choice that is a non-starter for somebody, somewhere.

[einpoklum]

> I think the reason it's like this is because the C++ maintainers are super focused on noticing whenever there is a choice to be made, and being careful not to make it for you

If you think that's the case, explain why I can't decide I want to pass an argument to a function in a register:

https://stackoverflow.com/q/58339165/1593077

Also, modern C++ has actually made it possible to write much more elegant code, for many delicate tasks, without sacrificing the performance benefits. So a convenient default doesn't necessarily have to contradict non-opinionated nature.