Opaque predicate

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In computer programming, an opaque predicate is a predicate, an expression that evaluates to either "true" or "false", for which the outcome is known by the programmer a priori, but which, for a variety of reasons, still needs to be evaluated at run time.[1] Opaque predicates have been used as watermarks, as they will be identifiable in a program's executable.[2] They can also be used to prevent an overzealous optimizer from optimizing away a portion of a program. Another use is in obfuscating the control or dataflow of a program to make reverse engineering harder.

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  1. ^ Caballero, Juan; Zurutuza, Urko; Rodríguez, Ricardo J. (2016-06-17). Detection of Intrusions and Malware, and Vulnerability Assessment: 13th International Conference, DIMVA 2016, San Sebastián, Spain, July 7-8, 2016, Proceedings. Springer. ISBN 978-3-319-40667-1.
  2. ^ Chaki, Rituparna; Cortesi, Agostino; Saeed, Khalid; Chaki, Nabendu (2015-11-18). Advanced Computing and Systems for Security: Volume 2. Springer. ISBN 978-81-322-2653-6.