I was looking through compiler/nativeGen/X86/Instr.hs and it's pretty hard not to notice the (hilarious) diatribe about the horror that is x87.

git log -p says this was apparently written in 2009 by Ben.Lippmeier@anu.edu.au  (92ee78e03c3670f56ebbbbfb0f67a00f9ea1305f).

Since this has survived in X86/ all this time I'm guessing this is still an issue (another guess: we've gotten by because of SSE?).  Is there any interest in improving x87 code generation?  And if so, has anyone tried before?

According to the comment there seems to be room for improvement.  Sadly I don't think x87 is going away any time soon.

-Thomas Jakway