4ec9c0a6

REPLY:  989fbedb

PID: SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
XPost: alt.folklore.computers

J. Clarke  wrote:
> On Mon, 4 Jan 2021 21:57:32 +0000, Pancho
>  wrote:
>
>> On 04/01/2021 17:51, gareth evans wrote:
>>> On 04/01/2021 13:08, Pancho wrote:
>>>> On 04/01/2021 11:00, gareth evans wrote:
>>>>> Thinking back to my first job, nearly 50 years ago now,
>>>>> when I had to dis-assemble DEC's paper tape BASIC
>>>>> interpreter in order to enhance it, I guess that
>>>>> dis-assemblers and decompilers must now be ten-a-penny,
>>>>> especially for programs running under Windows where
>>>>> the structure of Windows programs is well-known with
>>>>> an assumption that C was the source language?
>>>>>
>>>>> But I wonder if Artificial Intelligence could, after
>>>>> being fed with numerous instruction sets, take a
>>>>> block of binary, and analyse its source without
>>>>> any prior knowledge of the instruction set?
>>>>>
>>>>> I am particularly interested in the Binary Blob
>>>>> provided for Raspberry Pi computers, with a view to
>>>>> getting detailed knowledge of the video processors
>>>>> employed therein.
>>>>>
>>>> I think a lot of the problem is defining the question.
>>>>
>>>> What do you want it to do?
>>>>
>>>
>>> I don't want it to do anything. I want to play at a low level
>>> with the thing ... large oaks from little acorns grow.
>>>
>>
>> Play with what thing?
>
> The pieces of the hardware supported by the Blob.
>
>> What is an instruction set,
>
> The list of binary codes that tell the procesor what to do.
>
>> what is the Binary Blob?
>
> On the Raspberry Pi it is the non-Open-Source proprietary code that is
> provided by the chip manufacturer, including parts of the boot loader
> and the 3D drivers among other things.
>
>> Why do you need an AI?
>
> Why not?
>
>> Most compilers leave fingerprints on executables you don't need an AI to
>> detect them. I remember decompiling in the early 80's but complex modern
>> code can often be a challenge to naively reverse engineer a high level
>> understanding from even if you do have source code. Take away sensible
>> variable and function names and you are stuffed.
>
> He's talking about something that you can give a pile of object code
> from an unknown source (I mean _really_ unknown--it could be for Z/OS
> or a VAX or Intel or Alpha or any other architecture, compiled from C
> or PL/I or Fortran or pick a language at random, with it figuring from
> there what the code does.
>

The object code format would give you a clue, at least for most mainstream
architectures.

--
Pete

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05