Why doesn’t Julia fma automatically?

Yes, the default floating point model in clang also permits FMA since 2020 as @Palli described. I’m also not fully convinced that it’s a great idea. The idea that the math you write in a programming language represents some abstract mathematical truth and “just does what you mean” is so very seductive but I really don’t think it’s meaningful in a way you can count on because there’s always some place that the rubber hits the road and you’re no longer abstract.

We’ve discussed this tension many times; this comment still represents my views:

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