Self Modifying Code

A technique so advanced and powerful that only the very best of the best EXPERT PROGRAMMERS can understand and only partially exploit its power. It is so powerful, infinitely more so than goto, that Dijkstra would turn over in his grave at the very mention of it. To use an old analogy, self-modifying code not only makes it easy for you to shoot yourself in the foot, but also end the universe along with it. It is in the realm of the programming gods, for with it one may even be able to write programs that achieve sentience.

Discuss.

NO EXCEPTIONS

Satori > sentience

Read SICP

You mean first-class environments?

>>3
Satori == sentience

Self-modifying code was commonplace with the 6502. It was generally cheaper to store a memory address in the immediate indexed mode instruction (e.g. lda $ffd4,x) that used it rather than on the zero page and using zero page indirect with index addressing (e.g. lda ($cc),x). Saved at least one cycle, there... though if you wanted to use the same address with multiple instructions going through the zero page was generally more winlike.

>>6
I totally didn't understand a word of that, and I feel better for it.

>>7
You have not even achieved Satori yet. Read SICP.

"Self Modifying Code" is trivial...

>>9
Especially in Python. Any useful object modifies self.

>>10
Get out.

That's why I write all my code in interpreted XML.

>>12
Which one? XSLT?

>>12
Which one? XPath? J2EE? MSSQL?

http://hackety.org/2008/01/05/ioHasAVeryCleanMirror.html

>>6
1) There is no lda (zp),x instruction, only lda (zp),y and lda (zp,x)
2) lda $ffd4,x is not "immediate indexed", it is absolute indexed.
3) Self-modifying absolute stores are both 1 byte longer and 1 cycle slower per byte modified than zp stores, so the write/read total is a wash vs using a zp variable if you don't read more than write, and you get killed if there are many different readers to update.

Don't call me gay, but I need some mary jay!

Marijuana MUST be legalized.

21 Name: Anonymous 2011-02-03 3:25

22 Name: Anonymous 2011-02-18 13:38

<-- check my doubles

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