If op is reading this, eg, xor eax eax will zero the entire 64 bit register, so rax will be zero. It's not that the processor is clever enough to know there's

If op is reading this, eg, xor eax eax will zero the entire 64 bit register, so rax will be zero. It's not that the processor is clever enough to know there's no dependency, there just isn't one. Great article!