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People who reversed engineered the IBM BIOS had the API specification -- actually they had the entire source code. They didn't just fire random interrupts at t
by wvenable 9y ago
People who reversed engineered the IBM BIOS had the API specification -- actually they had the entire source code. They didn't just fire random interrupts at the BIOS and see what it did. But what they did do was take that specification and describe it the detail necessary for completely fresh implementation.
- hcknwscommenter 9y agoNot true at all. It was a clean-room reverse engineering job. Yes, they could have looked at the API, but they did not. More specifically, they erected an information wall between those who had the API specification and those who did not, and used the results from those who did not.
- wvenable 9y agoOne team looked at the API and source code and everything and used that to develop the specification for the "clean" team to implement. That's the point. Collectively they didn't start with nothing.