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Thank you for the kind words! I like using it for disassembling UIKit (for my day job working on iOS apps), and overall, I like the UI/UX and how it feels like

by blkhp19 6mo ago

Thank you for the kind words! I like using it for disassembling UIKit (for my day job working on iOS apps), and overall, I like the UI/UX and how it feels like a native Mac app. I've tried Ghidra, and while extremely impressive and capable, it might be the most Java-feeling app I've ever used. I'd love for someone to whip up an AppKit + SwiftUI shell for it.

xandrius 6mo ago
You made me curious: why would you need to disassemble UIKit for iOS as part of your day job?
- crazysim 6mo ago
  Sometimes things aren't documented and sometimes they could be documented wrong.
- blkhp19 6mo ago
  There are bugs and undocumented behaviors that need to be understood in order to be worked around - I wish it wasn't the case but such is life developing for closed-source platforms.
hirvi74 6mo ago
> I like using it for disassembling UIKit (for my day job working on iOS apps), and overall, I like the UI/UX and how it feels like a native Mac app. You are correct about the UI/UX. I do think Hopper is ahead of others in that regard. Though, Radare2 being a CLI tool is nice as well. Though, I haven't attempted to use Radare2 for MacOS/iOS disassembly. Though I must ask, why are you disassembling UIKit? Looking for private API behavior or working around bugs? I've been learning more about iOS in my spare time, because despite my love for Swift, I have never used it for iOS. I only have used Swift for MacOS automation, i.e., AppleScript replacement via the Accessibility, Core Foundation, AppKit, etc.. > Ghidra, and while extremely impressive and capable, it might be the most Java-feeling app I chuckled while reading this because I had the exact same thought when I first used Ghidra. I haven't tried Ghidra on MacOS because I will not taint my machines with the impurities of Java. I also do not want to enable Rosetta, so that was another obstacle in trying Ghidra on MacOS. In Ghidra's defense, using Java was a pragmatic choice. The "write once, run anywhere" promise of Java is likely a near-necessity for a disassembler for government operations.
- blkhp19 6mo ago
  > Looking for private API behavior or working around bugs? Exactly this!
saagarjha 6mo ago
I've had it on my list to do for a very long time but unfortunately it has never gotten much effort. Although at this point I'm not super happy with the design (I feel like it's built to be slow…) and I might build on top of something more modern like Binary Ninja instead.

by blkhp19 6mo ago

xandrius 6mo ago

You made me curious: why would you need to disassemble UIKit for iOS as part of your day job?

crazysim 6mo ago
Sometimes things aren't documented and sometimes they could be documented wrong.
blkhp19 6mo ago
There are bugs and undocumented behaviors that need to be understood in order to be worked around - I wish it wasn't the case but such is life developing for closed-source platforms.

hirvi74 6mo ago

> I like using it for disassembling UIKit (for my day job working on iOS apps), and overall, I like the UI/UX and how it feels like a native Mac app. You are correct about the UI/UX. I do think Hopper is ahead of others in that regard. Though, Radare2 being a CLI tool is nice as well. Though, I haven't attempted to use Radare2 for MacOS/iOS disassembly. Though I must ask, why are you disassembling UIKit? Looking for private API behavior or working around bugs? I've been learning more about iOS in my spare time, because despite my love for Swift, I have never used it for iOS. I only have used Swift for MacOS automation, i.e., AppleScript replacement via the Accessibility, Core Foundation, AppKit, etc.. > Ghidra, and while extremely impressive and capable, it might be the most Java-feeling app I chuckled while reading this because I had the exact same thought when I first used Ghidra. I haven't tried Ghidra on MacOS because I will not taint my machines with the impurities of Java. I also do not want to enable Rosetta, so that was another obstacle in trying Ghidra on MacOS. In Ghidra's defense, using Java was a pragmatic choice. The "write once, run anywhere" promise of Java is likely a near-necessity for a disassembler for government operations.

blkhp19 6mo ago
> Looking for private API behavior or working around bugs? Exactly this!

saagarjha 6mo ago

I've had it on my list to do for a very long time but unfortunately it has never gotten much effort. Although at this point I'm not super happy with the design (I feel like it's built to be slow…) and I might build on top of something more modern like Binary Ninja instead.