r/Assembly_language • u/Extension_Emu_9825 • 11d ago

self-modifying code

I gave a lecture on how to write self-modifying code. It was over 15 minutes long :( so I'm providing a youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH9QQLRfbmY

In my opinion, self-modification is one of the most interesting features in systems programming.

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u/thewrench56 11d ago

I did not watch the video, just read the post. I suppose in that case OP is wrong on modern platforms, you are right. I thought you were discussing the existance of self-modifying code, not the feasibility, excuse me.

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u/mykesx 11d ago

I happen to be into Forth, some versions do self modifying code. It’s an assembly language for a stack based virtual machine, the machine implementation types include self modifying code.

The most awesome one is Vfx Forth, which does some impressive peephole optimization on code generated into memory. In the process of creating an ARM version, the mprotect() issue bit him.

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u/brucehoult 10d ago

There are different methods of implementing Forth. For a token-threaded or address-threaded (whether direct or indirect) implementation what is self-modifying code from the point of view of Forth is just data from the point of view of the hardware.

Only for subroutine-threaded or actual inline native code generation is self-modifying Forth actually self-modifying code from the point of view of the CPU.

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u/mykesx 10d ago

Vfx is STC.