Compiling C to printable x86, to make an executable research paper
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN fans call it a favorite engineering video and a showcase of Tom7's masterpiece-level, playful hacking.
What it is
Tom7 explains how he built a SIGBOVIK 2017 paper made only of printable ASCII bytes that is also a valid DOS executable. He writes a C compiler targeting printable x86 without self-modifying code and solves the puzzles the constraint creates.
Recommended by 8 HN commenters across 7 different months, 2018 to 2023.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec pronoiac · 2019-07 · on “Survival in chessland [pdf]”
He's a mad genius! I like his compiler that generates executables made up only of printable characters: [this video] / [LINK] He's super playful and awesomely smart!
Strong rec badrequest · 2019-11 · on “NaN Gates and Flip FLOPS”
Every one of this guy's SIGBOVIK papers/videos are pure gold. His video about the printable x86[1] is my favorite engineering video of all time. ^1: [this video]
Strong rec nextaccountic · 2023-07 · on “C89 compiler produces printable executables from C code [pdf]”
The author is an absolute legend. Absolutely every video on his Youtube channel is a masterpiece [LINK] And this includes the video that explains this code (Compiling C to printable x86, to make an executable research paper) [this video]
Strong rec omgmajk · 2023-10 · on “The GlEnd() of Zelda: Automatic 3Dification of NES Games (2016)”
Love Tom7, his video "Compiling C to printable x86, to make an executable research paper" [0] is my favorite but most of his stuff is super interesting. [0] [this video]
Recommends anitil · 2021-04 · on “Lipogram”
tom7 made a while video explaining how to create an executable only with printable characters [0]. He even write a compiler called 'ABC' for it. [0] [this video]
Recommends SAI_Peregrinus · 2021-07 · on “Undocumented x86 instructions to control the CPU at the microarchitecture level [pdf]”
That last one (Tom 7's executable x86 paper) is incomplete without the video where he demonstrates running the paper (or running the paper yourself). [this video]
Recommends x86x87 · 2023-03 · on “Ask HN: What are some of the most interesting YouTube channels to follow?”
A mix of various things. Google to get to the channel: pbs spacetime stuff made here ben eater's 8 bit computer mike boyd nerdforge sabine hossenfelder gotham chess uthermal 3blue1brown veritasium Numberphile Suckerpinch (all time favourite: [this video] ) Stevey's tech talk leonard susskind's stanford lectures
Recommends nick-of-time · 2023-07 · on “GradIEEEnt half decent: The hidden power of imprecise lines [video]”
Mine are "Harder Drives"[1], "ELO World"[2], and "Printable x86"[3] [1] [LINK] [2] [LINK] [3] [this video]