Matt Godbolt

Matt Godbolt, an engineer and the creator of Compiler Explorer, shares his passion for diving beneath software abstractions to troubleshoot complex issues. He explores how storage abstractions can mislead performance assessments, recounts his journey from game developer to high-frequency trading, and discusses debugging techniques like visualizing execution on the Dreamcast. His guiding principle, "Godbolt's Rule," emphasizes mastering one layer while understanding the next, ensuring breakthroughs in the obscure depths of computing.

Matt Godbolt, author of godbolt.org Compiler Explorer, discusses disassembling language designs including reference counting optimizations, destructors and unwinding, and defending the decision of NaN != NaN. They also explore the benefits of Dwarf Debug Format, stack unwinding, memory allocation strategies, and the logic behind NaN in programming. Additionally, they touch on reference counting implementation and advantages of atomic instructions for thread sharing.