frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Made with ♥ by @iamnishanth

Open Source @Github

fp.

Open in hackernews

Ask HN: Help with doing statistics over machine code

2•phafu•8mo ago
I'd like to do some statistics over the machine code gcc generates, such as a histogram of used instructions, average volatile/preserved registers usage of functions etc. For now just x86_64 SysV-ABI would be enough.

However I'm not aware of any pre-existing tool that lets me easily do this. The options I currently see are either make gcc output assembly and write a parser for the GNU Assembler format (possibly by reusing the asm-parser of the compiler-explorer project), or write a tool that reads (disassembles) object files directly using elfutils.

Any hints, prior work, further ideas, links to useful resources, or any other kind of help would be much appreciated.

Comments

baobun•8mo ago
"Static analysis" should be a relevant search term. Assuming you don't need to tie the instructions back to C code then the "gcc" part seems circumstancial for implementation? I guess you might want to parse the ASM into an Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) represenation and work on that?

If you do want to tie it back to the source, this looks relevant: http://icps.u-strasbg.fr/~pop/gcc-ast.html

phafu•8mo ago
For my purpose I don't need to get back to the original source, no.

The gcc part is only relevant with regards to what dialect of assembler I need to parse. If I go that route, I'd write a parser for the GNU assembler, and that would of course work with any code in that dialect, regardless from which compiler it came from (I haven't checked whether other compilers can produce GNU assembler though).

Show HN: Blobcache

https://blobcache.io/
1•brendoncarroll•1m ago•0 comments

Apple testing new App Store design that blurs the line between ads and results

https://9to5mac.com/2026/01/16/iphone-apple-app-store-search-results-ads-new-design/
2•ksec•4m ago•0 comments

GoCrazyAI – AI image and video generator

1•gocrazyai•5m ago•0 comments

NASA Technology Spinoffs Archives

https://spinoff.nasa.gov/spinoff/archives
1•o4c•6m ago•0 comments

Things GenAI Needs for Better Content Design [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfHBINzB0Ps
1•ArneVogel•6m ago•0 comments

An idea that several novices tried to complete on a weekend

https://github.com/hdcola/metapi
1•hdcola•7m ago•0 comments

Teaching LLMs to Stop Wasting Tokens

https://codereviewr.app/blog/teach-llms-to-stop-wasting-tokens
1•sousvidal•7m ago•0 comments

Technology Readiness Levels

https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/somd/space-communications-navigation-program/technology-readine...
1•o4c•8m ago•0 comments

Stocks sell off globally as traders digest Trump message

https://fortune.com/2026/01/19/stocks-sell-off-trump-text-message-greenland-nobel-peace-prize/
1•doener•8m ago•0 comments

Removal of GTK2 from forky (Debian 14)

https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2026/01/msg00090.html
1•birdculture•12m ago•0 comments

Building live collaboration in Rust for users, part 1

https://www.photoroom.com/inside-photoroom/building-live-collaboration-in-rust-for-millions-of-us...
1•ea016•14m ago•0 comments

Show HN: "htop" for PyTorch training, see stalls, memory and step time live

1•traceopt•15m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Tsshd – mosh-like SSH with QUIC, roaming and full OpenSSH compatibility

https://github.com/trzsz/tsshd
1•LonnyWong•15m ago•0 comments

Generate professional App Store previews instantly with AI

https://appscreenshotstudio.com/
1•Welten01•16m ago•1 comments

Show HN: PolicyBind – AI Policy-as-Code with real-time token access control

https://github.com/clay-good/policybind
1•hireclay•17m ago•0 comments

Ask HN: Will there be resurgence of webapps instead of app store?

1•omnifischer•17m ago•1 comments

Sled is Claude Code on your mobile with voice

https://sled.layercode.com
2•dctanner•17m ago•1 comments

Happy 40th birthday Apple Lisa

https://computerhistory.org/blog/the-lisa-apples-most-influential-failure
1•stmw•18m ago•0 comments

'Are You Dead?': The viral Chinese app for young people living alone

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3381r5nnn6o
2•mooreds•20m ago•0 comments

Causes of global extinctions in the history of life: facts and hypotheses (2020)

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7716527/
2•mooreds•21m ago•0 comments

The Memory-Transfer Episode

https://www.apa.org/monitor/2010/06/memory-transfer
1•34679•21m ago•0 comments

Understanding the psychology behind product decisions

https://designexplained.substack.com/p/understanding-the-psychology-behind
1•kaizenb•24m ago•0 comments

Mestastic on Family Cruise – Worked Great for Family of 4

https://old.reddit.com/r/meshtastic/comments/1qd2z97/mestastic_on_family_cruise_worked_great_for/
2•lormayna•25m ago•0 comments

Back-scratching bovine leads scientists to reassess intelligence of cows

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jan/19/back-scratching-cow-veronika-bovine-intelligence
2•n1b0m•25m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Eigent – the open source alternative of Cowork

1•camelaiorg•27m ago•0 comments

Let's Play Quakeworld

https://fabiensanglard.net/quakeworld/
1•_pob•27m ago•0 comments

How to Get Your First Users [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kARDVL2nZg
1•gmays•27m ago•0 comments

2026 Linux Audio Conference Focus on LLMs and Floss

https://lac26.mucs.club/
3•Lanedo•28m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Pipenet – A Modern Alternative to Localtunnel

https://pipenet.dev/
4•punkpeye•30m ago•0 comments

PicoPCMCIA – Yyzkevin

https://www.yyzkevin.com/picopcmcia/
1•rbanffy•30m ago•0 comments