alt Hacker News> Like what fictional compilers when you run them on source code produce a program that may or may not run, may or may not produce desired result etc.?
Oh, you are talking about program determinism. I don't know about fictional compilers, but gcc and clang will produce programs that behave differently from compile to compile where __DATE__ or __TIME__ is used. There are languages like Church that are explicitly designed for non-deterministic programs, so a Church compiler would obviously need to adhere to that. And, of course, ick has the mysterious -mystery flag!
But we were talking about compiler determinism. Where for a stable input the compiler produces a stable output. A non-deterministic compiler does not necessarily equate to a non-deterministic program. Obvious to anyone who has used a computer before, the structure of the binary produced by a compiler and the execution of that binary are separate concerns.
If you wanted to talk about something completely different why not start a new thread?
> I don't know about fictional compilers, but gcc and clang will produce programs that behave differently from compile to compile where __DATE__ or __TIME__ is used
That's not non-determinism, is it?
> Where for a stable input the compiler produces a stable output. A non-deterministic compiler does not necessarily equate to a non-deterministic program
In case of LLMs that you're desperately trying to equate compilers to that's exactly what it is.
If I take a compiler and run it on an input in debug and release mode, with an extremely high degree of confidence I'll get the same working program (with the deterministic difference in debug logging etc.)
For most compilers determinism is such that people can often predict the final output (down to assembly instructions emitted by C++ compilers). Or target specific intermediate modes directly when needed.
If I take LLMs and change literally any variable from 0/0/0, I will get entirely unpredictable uncontrollable random output.
> If you wanted to talk about something completely different why not start a new thread?
Your vague and non-vague ad hominims are getting tiresome.
Adieu.