Well, as a NixOS User (which granted way post-dates RISC), I get the all the benefits of constant recompilation without burning any of my own CPU cycles.

Very good point on the `REP MOVS` front (and cool story!). Indeed if the Mill pans out it would instantly usher the renaissance for branch delay.

So yeah, I rather recompile than try to predict future architecture trends, but either way, the grossness should be there for performance not hand-coding ease.