[carlosdp]

It's actually possible to defuse the whole thing by just decompiling it into assembly and reading that, but you have to really know and be comfortable with ASM. There are a handful of students that do it each year at CMU though, so it's not unsurmountable.

Students who are really comfortable with ASM will get through it fast by reading it, and those who are less so will GDB their way to the right answer. Which is exactly how a good CS assignment should work, where it scales for each skill level very well. Hence one of the reasons this book is great!