> No, the comma operator is actually compiled exactly the same way.

Please reread the sentence you quoted. I did not say the comma operator is compiled differently. I said the scalar operator changes the way the program is compiled. And it does change the way the program is compiled, by causing the insertion of an additional op node into the optree.

Then I said that the change to the way the program was compiled causes the comma operator to return its second operand, instead of constructing a list value. As you explained, the additional op node has precisely this effect.