4ec9c0a6

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

On 05/01/2021 21:06, Peter Flass wrote:
> 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.
>

In the case of the RPi GPU the format is completley unknown.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05