4 ms·

C89 compiler produces printable executables from C code [pdf] (2017)

125 points by CharlesW 3y ago

nextaccountic 3y ago
The author is an absolute legend. Absolutely every video on his Youtube channel is a masterpiece https://www.youtube.com/@tom7 https://www.youtube.com/@tom7 And this includes the video that explains this code (Compiling C to printable x86, to make an executable research paper) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA_DrBwkiJA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA_DrBwkiJA
- enriquto 3y ago
  Is this information available in non-video form?
  - speps 3y ago
    TFA is the paper resulting from the video. Although you're missing a lot not watching the video as his presentation style is unique and entertaining.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
  - kzrdude 3y ago
    The paper is fun too. Tom said > If you have the time, I think reading the paper is the best way to experience it. But I also created the following video that explains the ideas involved, for interested non-experts or patient experts.
- speps 3y ago
  His most recent one was on HN a few days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36806970 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36806970
Pannoniae 3y ago
I've read this paper a few years ago, it's a timeless classic :)
kzrdude 3y ago
What is sigbovik like, and did he present this at that conference?
- UncleMeat 3y ago
  Sigbovik is a joke conference put on by CMU students. About 80%-90% of the papers each year are pure jokes, but about 10-20% of them are jokes that have a nontrivial amount of work backing them up. These papers are awesome. Tom publishes at least one every year (sometimes 3-4) and his papers are among the best but there are others that are also awesome. It hits a very fun combination of hard work on trivial problems that is fascinating. They publish a proceedings every year and they are fun reads. Not a lot of people do accompanying videos like Tom does, but this one on WordTeX is excellent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlX_pThh7z8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlX_pThh7z8
  - orthoxerox 3y ago
    I think tom7 and tomw are two different people.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - UncleMeat 3y ago
      They are different people, yes. That's why I mentioned the video as an example of somebody who isn't Tom7 doing an associated video. I guess my text was a little unclear.
- gs17 3y ago
  One of the proceedings had a table with "serious/humorous presentation" on one axis and "serious/humorous idea" on the other. Normal conferences take the niche of "serious ideas presented seriously". For everything else, there's SIGBOVIK.
mati365 3y ago
Recently I was working on something like that [1]. Basically I created simple C compiler (with IR and other stuff) that compiles code to basic X86 16bit instructions which can be directly booted into real mode. [1] https://github.com/Mati365/ts-c-compiler https://github.com/Mati365/ts-c-compiler
- phpnode 3y ago
  this is awesome!
K0balt 3y ago
It’s only a matter of time before someone writes a meta-verilog wrapper for this and the universe implodes.
userbinator 3y ago
(2017), but still worth reading again. There is actually a more "traditional" way of doing this, which is to convert a regular executable to an ASCII one using a separate tool: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16312562 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16312562
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

125 points by CharlesW 3y ago

The author is an absolute legend. Absolutely every video on his Youtube channel is a masterpiece https://www.youtube.com/@tom7 https://www.youtube.com/@tom7 And this includes the video that explains this code (Compiling C to printable x86, to make an executable research paper) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA_DrBwkiJA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA_DrBwkiJA

enriquto 3y ago
Is this information available in non-video form?
- speps 3y ago
  TFA is the paper resulting from the video. Although you're missing a lot not watching the video as his presentation style is unique and entertaining.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- kzrdude 3y ago
  The paper is fun too. Tom said > If you have the time, I think reading the paper is the best way to experience it. But I also created the following video that explains the ideas involved, for interested non-experts or patient experts.
speps 3y ago
His most recent one was on HN a few days ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36806970 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36806970

Pannoniae 3y ago

I've read this paper a few years ago, it's a timeless classic :)

kzrdude 3y ago

What is sigbovik like, and did he present this at that conference?

UncleMeat 3y ago
Sigbovik is a joke conference put on by CMU students. About 80%-90% of the papers each year are pure jokes, but about 10-20% of them are jokes that have a nontrivial amount of work backing them up. These papers are awesome. Tom publishes at least one every year (sometimes 3-4) and his papers are among the best but there are others that are also awesome. It hits a very fun combination of hard work on trivial problems that is fascinating. They publish a proceedings every year and they are fun reads. Not a lot of people do accompanying videos like Tom does, but this one on WordTeX is excellent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlX_pThh7z8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlX_pThh7z8
- orthoxerox 3y ago
  I think tom7 and tomw are two different people.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - UncleMeat 3y ago
    They are different people, yes. That's why I mentioned the video as an example of somebody who isn't Tom7 doing an associated video. I guess my text was a little unclear.
gs17 3y ago
One of the proceedings had a table with "serious/humorous presentation" on one axis and "serious/humorous idea" on the other. Normal conferences take the niche of "serious ideas presented seriously". For everything else, there's SIGBOVIK.

mati365 3y ago

Recently I was working on something like that [1]. Basically I created simple C compiler (with IR and other stuff) that compiles code to basic X86 16bit instructions which can be directly booted into real mode. [1] https://github.com/Mati365/ts-c-compiler https://github.com/Mati365/ts-c-compiler

phpnode 3y ago
this is awesome!

K0balt 3y ago

It’s only a matter of time before someone writes a meta-verilog wrapper for this and the universe implodes.

userbinator 3y ago

(2017), but still worth reading again. There is actually a more "traditional" way of doing this, which is to convert a regular executable to an ASCII one using a separate tool: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16312562 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16312562

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]