6 ms·

PyDisAss: A 6502 Disassembler in Python

29 points by fcambus 6y ago

spicybright 6y ago
That's... not a great name lol
- ironmagma 6y ago
  It’s not great, it’s amazing.
tom_ 6y ago
I claim it's best to give up on the idea of being clever, and just go straight for being interactive. Particularly true for 6502; there's nothing remotely approaching an ABI, and, in general, anything goes. You'll never be able to automate everything. Simplest to give up before you start, and just settle for recursively discovering code from a specified starting point by following obvious branches and jumps. But that's fine! That's all you need to do. The interactivity solves the rest, and the user can specify code vs data and so on themselves as they work through the code. See IDA Pro (https://www.hex-rays.com/products/ida/ https://www.hex-rays.com/products/ida/), Dis6502 (https://www.atarimax.com/dis6502/ https://www.atarimax.com/dis6502/), Ghidra (https://ghidra-sre.org/ https://ghidra-sre.org/ - actually, terrible for 6502 last I checked, but it is interactive), Hopper (https://www.hopperapp.com/ https://www.hopperapp.com/), and probably more.
simonblack 6y ago
<grin> That's a bit like my 8080 disassembler in COBOL, back in the 80s.
rectang 6y ago
PyDisAss? A booty meme pic to finish out the article? Great example of why women don't feel welcome in tech and why there are so few women on HN. Totally unnecessary spoilage of a laboriously crafted project and article.
- notretarded 6y ago
  Get a grip
- dolni 6y ago
  > PyDisAss? A booty meme pic to finish out the article? Great example of why women don't feel welcome in tech and why there are so few women on HN. Women don't feel welcome because of a play on words regarding a body part that _everyone_ has? How does a person become so fragile? Is the joke a bit juvenile? Yes. But if someone is so utterly offended that they crumple on hearing it, I am not sure any company is well served to have someone like that on staff. If you can't handle a stupid joke, how are you supposed to handle someone critiquing a project you've worked hard on? Please don't perpetuate this sort of nonsense on womens' behalf. Women do have legitimate workplace grievances, but this isn't one of them. All you are accomplishing is sabotage of their legitimate frustrations.
- wayneftw 6y ago
  One reason that I was drawn to programming was because I liked spending long hours in front of the computer figuring things out, not talking to anybody else or dealing with people. Women that I've spoken to about this have said they couldn't imagine being alone all day. Many men too. I'm not a people person consistently enough for politics but I love tech stuff! When I started programming though I did hang out on IRC a lot. Mostly I was there to ask questions. People there were extremely rude to me just for asking questions or having an opinion. I also started out with a very low paying jobs and I have been discriminated against many times for the fact that I do not have a college degree. Now that I'm older I will be discriminated against for my age. However I persist. If it weren't for my desire to learn, it might have turned me off. If not for my love of tech I might have switched careers. I think people who would rather make a stink about some bit of drama really weren't interested in the tech as much as they were interested in drama, money or respect.
- awsm9000 6y ago
  Hi, author of the article here. Back in the 80s most assemblers and disassemblers were abbreviated with "Ass" or "Disass" and I'm pretty sure there was more than one pun intended for that naming scheme. As for the "booty" pic, I honestly didn't think about it as I just loved the show (Parks and Recreation), where Amy Poehler plays a strong and feminist lead role. Having said that I do agree with what you said and I do think it is extremely important to not even imply anything that could hurt somebody's feelings. Except for mom jokes. Mom jokes are still allowed. I have removed the repo name from the title and replaced the gif with a different one. Thank you for your comment :)
naebother 6y ago
Nice.
argvargc 6y ago
A better title might be: "How to write a 6502 disassembler in Python" In that light, it's a great, at times hilarious, article. (For example, the bit about self-modifying code is most elucidating.)

29 points by fcambus 6y ago

spicybright 6y ago

That's... not a great name lol

ironmagma 6y ago
It’s not great, it’s amazing.

tom_ 6y ago

I claim it's best to give up on the idea of being clever, and just go straight for being interactive. Particularly true for 6502; there's nothing remotely approaching an ABI, and, in general, anything goes. You'll never be able to automate everything. Simplest to give up before you start, and just settle for recursively discovering code from a specified starting point by following obvious branches and jumps. But that's fine! That's all you need to do. The interactivity solves the rest, and the user can specify code vs data and so on themselves as they work through the code. See IDA Pro (https://www.hex-rays.com/products/ida/ https://www.hex-rays.com/products/ida/), Dis6502 (https://www.atarimax.com/dis6502/ https://www.atarimax.com/dis6502/), Ghidra (https://ghidra-sre.org/ https://ghidra-sre.org/ - actually, terrible for 6502 last I checked, but it is interactive), Hopper (https://www.hopperapp.com/ https://www.hopperapp.com/), and probably more.

simonblack 6y ago

<grin> That's a bit like my 8080 disassembler in COBOL, back in the 80s.

rectang 6y ago

PyDisAss? A booty meme pic to finish out the article? Great example of why women don't feel welcome in tech and why there are so few women on HN. Totally unnecessary spoilage of a laboriously crafted project and article.

notretarded 6y ago
Get a grip
dolni 6y ago
> PyDisAss? A booty meme pic to finish out the article? Great example of why women don't feel welcome in tech and why there are so few women on HN. Women don't feel welcome because of a play on words regarding a body part that _everyone_ has? How does a person become so fragile? Is the joke a bit juvenile? Yes. But if someone is so utterly offended that they crumple on hearing it, I am not sure any company is well served to have someone like that on staff. If you can't handle a stupid joke, how are you supposed to handle someone critiquing a project you've worked hard on? Please don't perpetuate this sort of nonsense on womens' behalf. Women do have legitimate workplace grievances, but this isn't one of them. All you are accomplishing is sabotage of their legitimate frustrations.
wayneftw 6y ago
One reason that I was drawn to programming was because I liked spending long hours in front of the computer figuring things out, not talking to anybody else or dealing with people. Women that I've spoken to about this have said they couldn't imagine being alone all day. Many men too. I'm not a people person consistently enough for politics but I love tech stuff! When I started programming though I did hang out on IRC a lot. Mostly I was there to ask questions. People there were extremely rude to me just for asking questions or having an opinion. I also started out with a very low paying jobs and I have been discriminated against many times for the fact that I do not have a college degree. Now that I'm older I will be discriminated against for my age. However I persist. If it weren't for my desire to learn, it might have turned me off. If not for my love of tech I might have switched careers. I think people who would rather make a stink about some bit of drama really weren't interested in the tech as much as they were interested in drama, money or respect.
awsm9000 6y ago
Hi, author of the article here. Back in the 80s most assemblers and disassemblers were abbreviated with "Ass" or "Disass" and I'm pretty sure there was more than one pun intended for that naming scheme. As for the "booty" pic, I honestly didn't think about it as I just loved the show (Parks and Recreation), where Amy Poehler plays a strong and feminist lead role. Having said that I do agree with what you said and I do think it is extremely important to not even imply anything that could hurt somebody's feelings. Except for mom jokes. Mom jokes are still allowed. I have removed the repo name from the title and replaced the gif with a different one. Thank you for your comment :)

naebother 6y ago

Nice.

argvargc 6y ago

A better title might be: "How to write a 6502 disassembler in Python" In that light, it's a great, at times hilarious, article. (For example, the bit about self-modifying code is most elucidating.)