>Or are bugs due to interpretations of the specification just easier to find?
It could be. Another possible explanation could be that I am biased due to mostly working on the frontend of the compiler. I don't think that's the case though, most of the tickets that our customers open seem to be related to the frontend doing something that doesn't match the spec.
>Most compiler bugs are not in their interpretation of the specification, but in various optimization passes.
I work on a large, open-source, industrial-grade compiler for a living and I disagree with this statement unless it is specifically referring to C compilers and not compilers for other languages.
It could be. Another possible explanation could be that I am biased due to mostly working on the frontend of the compiler. I don't think that's the case though, most of the tickets that our customers open seem to be related to the frontend doing something that doesn't match the spec.