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Show HN: C to Go Assembly

justinclift 9y ago
Probably worth mentioning the blog post too: https://blog.minio.io/c2goasm-c-to-go-assembly-bb723d2f777f https://blog.minio.io/c2goasm-c-to-go-assembly-bb723d2f777f Out of curiosity, any idea how well does Go asm works with Delve (the Go debugger)?
- fwessels 9y ago
  That is a good question but have never tried it. However, there is nothing "special" about the assembly as ported by c2goasm, so it should equally well as any other (hand-crafted) assembly.
- akavel 9y ago
  Haven't tried it personally, but based on a recent article shared at r/golang (https://rakyll.org/coredumps/ https://rakyll.org/coredumps/, via https://www.reddit.com/r/golang/comments/6cvtd6/debugging_go_core_dumps_with_delve/ https://www.reddit.com/r/golang/comments/6cvtd6/debugging_go...), delve seems to show the contents of an .s file allright.
  - justinclift 9y ago
    Thanks, that's a useful article. Just wish core dumping Go programs worked on OSX. Hopefully one day. :)
mhh__ 9y ago
So, is go assembly the IR inside the Go compiler?
- fwessels 9y ago
  No, it is not an IR code such as in Java or .Net. At compile time it is translated into opcodes for the corresponding architecture that you are compiling for.
  - chrisseaton 9y ago
    I disagree. I think saying that it's the lowered intermediate representation in the Go compiler pipeline is a really good description. It's equivalent to the LIR in Java's C2 compiler. I'm not sure what the equivalent is in .net. Fundamentally, it's a representation and it's intermediate isn't it?
    - uluyol 9y ago
      No, not really. Go's assembly might be considered somewhat higher level than regular assembly code, but it's certainly architecture specific. The examples highlighted use x86 SIMD instructions unavailable on other architectures. Freedoms taken by the go assemblers also seem to be decreasing as the compiler becomes smarter. E.g. instruction reordering is no longer performed (https://github.com/golang/go/issues/15837 https://github.com/golang/go/issues/15837). You can read about the assemblers here: https://golang.org/doc/asm https://golang.org/doc/asm
      - chrisseaton 9y ago
        Yes I know it's architecture specific. Many lowered IRs are. The equivalent I gave, Java's C2 IR, is also architecture specific, which is why I used it.
theparanoid 9y ago
Go needs another option other than assembly. Either compiler intrinsics like C/C++ or something, anything, else.
- tankenmate 9y ago
  It does, cgo.

Probably worth mentioning the blog post too: https://blog.minio.io/c2goasm-c-to-go-assembly-bb723d2f777f https://blog.minio.io/c2goasm-c-to-go-assembly-bb723d2f777f Out of curiosity, any idea how well does Go asm works with Delve (the Go debugger)?

fwessels 9y ago
That is a good question but have never tried it. However, there is nothing "special" about the assembly as ported by c2goasm, so it should equally well as any other (hand-crafted) assembly.
akavel 9y ago
Haven't tried it personally, but based on a recent article shared at r/golang (https://rakyll.org/coredumps/ https://rakyll.org/coredumps/, via https://www.reddit.com/r/golang/comments/6cvtd6/debugging_go_core_dumps_with_delve/ https://www.reddit.com/r/golang/comments/6cvtd6/debugging_go...), delve seems to show the contents of an .s file allright.
- justinclift 9y ago
  Thanks, that's a useful article. Just wish core dumping Go programs worked on OSX. Hopefully one day. :)

mhh__ 9y ago

So, is go assembly the IR inside the Go compiler?

fwessels 9y ago
No, it is not an IR code such as in Java or .Net. At compile time it is translated into opcodes for the corresponding architecture that you are compiling for.
- chrisseaton 9y ago
  I disagree. I think saying that it's the lowered intermediate representation in the Go compiler pipeline is a really good description. It's equivalent to the LIR in Java's C2 compiler. I'm not sure what the equivalent is in .net. Fundamentally, it's a representation and it's intermediate isn't it?
  - uluyol 9y ago
    No, not really. Go's assembly might be considered somewhat higher level than regular assembly code, but it's certainly architecture specific. The examples highlighted use x86 SIMD instructions unavailable on other architectures. Freedoms taken by the go assemblers also seem to be decreasing as the compiler becomes smarter. E.g. instruction reordering is no longer performed (https://github.com/golang/go/issues/15837 https://github.com/golang/go/issues/15837). You can read about the assemblers here: https://golang.org/doc/asm https://golang.org/doc/asm
    - chrisseaton 9y ago
      Yes I know it's architecture specific. Many lowered IRs are. The equivalent I gave, Java's C2 IR, is also architecture specific, which is why I used it.

theparanoid 9y ago

Go needs another option other than assembly. Either compiler intrinsics like C/C++ or something, anything, else.

tankenmate 9y ago
It does, cgo.