[andreareina]

Isn't compiler optimization np complete? I don't think I'd put anything there in "should". Yeah any single optimization (or permutation thereof) can be applied, but they're order-dependent and the combinatorial explosion means you can't try to apply all of them.

[Thiez]

What makes you think that humans are better at solving np complete problems?

[andreareina]

Not in general. But humans can exploit prior knowledge to select which avenues to pursue first.