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We tasked Opus 4.6 using agent teams to build a C Compiler

anthropic.com

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Re: We tasked Opus 4.6 using agent teams to build a C Compiler

#561

Post by psychoslave »

p-e-w wrote: post #445
lelanthran wrote: post #441

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> > It cost $20,000 > I'm curious - do you have ANY idea what it costs to have humans write 100,000 lines of code??? I'll bite - I can write you an unoptimised C compiler that emits assembly for $20k, and it won't be 100k lines of code (maybe 15k, the last time I did this?). It won't take me a week, though. I think this project is a good frame of reference and matches my experience - vibing with AI is sometimes more…

> I can write you an unoptimised C compiler that emits assembly for $20k You may be willing to sell your work at that price, but that’s not the market rate, to put it very mildly. Even 10 times that would be seriously lowballing in the realm of contract work, regardless of whether it’s “optimised” or not (most software isn’t).

That feels like Silicon-Valley-centric point of view. Plus who would really spend $20k in building any C compiler today in the actual landscape of software?

All that this is saying is that license laundering of a code-base is now $20k away through automated processes, at least if the original code base is fully available. Well, with current state-of-the-art you’ll actually end up with a code-base which is not as good as the original, but that’s it.

Re: We tasked Opus 4.6 using agent teams to build a C Compiler

#562

Post by psychoslave »

beambot wrote: post #221
ndesaulniers wrote: post #165

I spent a good part of my career (nearly a decade) at Google working on getting Clang to build the linux kernel. https://clangbuiltlinux.github.io/ This LLM did it in (checks notes): > Over nearly 2,000 Claude Code sessions and $20,000 in API costs It may build, but does it boot (was also a significant and distinct next milestone)? (Also, will it blend?). Looks like yes! > The 100,000-line compiler can build a bootab…

This is getting close to a Ken Thompson "Trusting Trust" era -- AI could soon embed itself into the compilers themselves.

Hmm, well, there are already embedded in fonts: https://hackaday.com/2024/06/26/llama-ttf-is-ai-in-a-font/

Re: We tasked Opus 4.6 using agent teams to build a C Compiler

#564

Post by qarl »

lelanthran wrote: post #559
qarl wrote: post #545

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Deal. I'll pay you IF you can achieve the same level of performance. Heck, I'll double it. You must provide the entire git history with small commits. I won't be holding my breath.

> Deal. I'll pay you IF you can achieve the same level of performance. Heck, I'll double it. > You must provide the entire git history with small commits. > I won't be holding my breath. Sure; I do this often (I operate as a company because I am a contractor) - money to be held in escrow, all the usual contracts, etc. It's a big risk for you , though - the level of performance isn't stated in the linked article so a…

> the level of performance isn't stated in the linked article so a parser in Python is probably sufficient.

No, you'll have to match the performance of the actual code, regardless of what happens to be written in the article. It is a C compiler written in Rust.

Obviously. Your games reveal your malign intent.

EDIT: And good LORD. Who writes a C compiler in python. Do you know any other languages?!?

Re: We tasked Opus 4.6 using agent teams to build a C Compiler

#565

Post by AshamedCaptain »

Philpax wrote: post #57
dmitrygr wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

did this before i knew how to git, back in college. target was ARMv5

Great. Did your compiler support three different architectures (four, if you include x86 in addition to x86-64) and compile and pass the test suite for all of this software? > Projects that compile and pass their test suites include PostgreSQL (all 237 regression tests), SQLite, QuickJS, zlib, Lua, libsodium, libpng, jq, libjpeg-turbo, mbedTLS, libuv, Redis, libffi, musl, TCC, and DOOM — all using the fully standalon…

Frankly, I think you are exaggerating. My university had a course that required students to build a C compiler that could run the C subset of SPECint (which includes frigging Perl) and this was the usual 3 month class that was not expected to fill in 24h of your time, so I'd say 1 week sounds perfectly reasonable for someone already familiar. Good enough C for a shitton of projects is barely more complicated than writing an assembler, in fact, that is one of C's strong points (which is also the source of most of its weaknesses).

Re: We tasked Opus 4.6 using agent teams to build a C Compiler

#567

Post by ur-whale »

ndesaulniers wrote: post #165

I spent a good part of my career (nearly a decade) at Google working on getting Clang to build the linux kernel. https://clangbuiltlinux.github.io/ This LLM did it in (checks notes): > Over nearly 2,000 Claude Code sessions and $20,000 in API costs It may build, but does it boot (was also a significant and distinct next milestone)? (Also, will it blend?). Looks like yes! > The 100,000-line compiler can build a bootab…

> This LLM did it

You do realize the LLM had access (via his training set) and "reused" (not as is, of course) your own work, right?

Re: We tasked Opus 4.6 using agent teams to build a C Compiler

#568

Post by tdemin »

ndesaulniers wrote: post #165

I spent a good part of my career (nearly a decade) at Google working on getting Clang to build the linux kernel. https://clangbuiltlinux.github.io/ This LLM did it in (checks notes): > Over nearly 2,000 Claude Code sessions and $20,000 in API costs It may build, but does it boot (was also a significant and distinct next milestone)? (Also, will it blend?). Looks like yes! > The 100,000-line compiler can build a bootab…

[dead]

Re: We tasked Opus 4.6 using agent teams to build a C Compiler

#569

Post by pjmlp »

qarl wrote: post #546
pjmlp wrote: post #482

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, how is your Solaris installation going? I also remember having gone into research, because there were no jobs available, and even though I was employed at the time, our salaries weren't being paid.

What does this even mean?

==> Anyone remember the dotcom bust?

Re: We tasked Opus 4.6 using agent teams to build a C Compiler

#570

Post by NitpickLawyer »

willsmith72 wrote: post #316
eek2121 wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also: a large amount of folks seem to think Claude code is losing a ton of money. I have no idea where the final numbers land, however, if the $20,000 figure is accurate and based on some of the estimates I've seen, they could've hired 8 senior level developers at a quarter million a year for the same amount of money spent internally. Granted, marketing sucks up far too much money for any startup, and again, we don't…

this doesn't add up. the 20k is in API costs. people talk about CC losing money because it's way more efficient than the API. I.e. the same work with efficient use of CC might have cost ~$5k. but regardless, hiring is difficult and high-end talent is limited. If the costs were anywhere close to equivalent, the agents are a no-brainer

> hiring is difficult and high-end talent is limited.

Not only that, but firing talent is also a pain. You can't "hire" 10 devs for 2 weeks, and fire them afterwards. At least you can't keep doing that, people talk and no one would apply.

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