[mike_hock]

> If some architecture traps on unaligned access, then the compiler can and should simply generate the correct code so that it loads the integer piece by piece instead.

LMAO what?!

The compiler should pessimize each and every memory access everywhere with an alignment check on the pointer and a branch, or forego the efficient memory access method of the platform entirely and just do bytewise loads only?!

[matheusmoreira]

Unaligned access. Not every access. Compiler should be able to analyze code, determine alignment invariants and optimize everything it can. If not, __builtin_assume_aligned could help whenever it needs to be made explicit. Alignment should have been part of the type itself to begin with but there's no fixing that now.

[mike_hock]

So yes, pessimize each and every access. No, that's not acceptable. And no, just because the compiler can get rid of some of the alignment checks where static analysis can prove that the pointer is aligned doesn't cut it.

Yes, making alignment part of the type system would be the correct fix. And yes, that's absolutely still possible since unaligned access is still UB. You're not breaking existing code. You could easily add new pointer types with (static) alignment information.