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Re:STOKE – a stochastic optimizer for x86_64 assembly by viraptor on Tuesday January 19, 2016 @03:41AM (#10929404)
> I've never come across something like this before.

Have a look at Souper. I believe it's got slightly different approach, but the same idea / result. (https://github.com/google/souper)

Actually I'm a bit disappointed that none of the papers references it (did a quick text search only).

Re:STOKE – a stochastic optimizer for x86_64 assembly by UniQP on Tuesday January 19, 2016 @09:08AM (#10930808)
That's because a) the initial STOKE paper (2013) is older than Souper (initial commit 2014) and b) there is no Souper paper so far