> Given sufficient time a good assembler programmer can fit 
> an application
> in a smaller code size than a HLL programmer. Given 
> sufficient code
> space a HLL programmer can write the same application in 
> less time.

I agree that the chances of a compiler being so good that it 
can consistently under-size relative to a top assembly 
language programmer is very slight.
However, the very very very best compilers can write more 
compact code than an assembler writer can write without 
justifying being fired.

eg

1.    I have seen code which jumped into the middle of a 
multibyte instruction
eg in the language of a long extinct cpu

    LD X, #2010        CE 20 10

The $20 codes as unconditional branch and the $10 as an 
offset so dropping into the code at the $20 would cause such 
a branch.

2.    You COULD execute code in data tables if the data was 
appropriate and located 'correctly'. Arranging this to be 
the case would usually take some effort.

Both the above examples would be hard to document and their 
appropriateness would come and go with circumstance. 
Maintaining them across time would be vanishingly 
impossible. A programmer who employed such techniques should 
be fired before you employed them as the code would be an 
utter time bomb. A compiler could however implement such 
things on a case by case basis with impunity.









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