Cool stuff. Really, though, this is still relying on a rather large runtime library: the physical, data-link, and network-layer drivers.
Now what'd be really awesome to see, would be one of those Operating System guides that shows you how to write an OS kernel, in assembler, that can speak HTTP. Even just limiting yourself to targeting the synthetic hardware of a VM program, it'd still be quite a feat.
Bonus points if the entire network stack has been flattened using the hand-rolled equivalent of stream-fusion. :)
That is just running the TCP/IP layer speaking RS232 and relying on an external IC for lower layers. It's not at all what the GP is looking for.
It should probably also be noted that a minimum TCP header, with no data attached, is 20 bytes, so to implement a 'full stack' in 68 bytes is a pretty strong indication that you're relying on off SoC memory to handle the packet buffering.
From the first line of the source, it's a PIC (microcontroller) program, rather than something for x86 (which VirtualBox and friends emulate), so, no.
There are a few open source PIC simulators -- e.g. [1] -- and I would guess you might be able to get it running, since the link layer is SLIP over a serial port. You'd just have to wire up the simulator's serial console in the right way.
Now what'd be really awesome to see, would be one of those Operating System guides that shows you how to write an OS kernel, in assembler, that can speak HTTP. Even just limiting yourself to targeting the synthetic hardware of a VM program, it'd still be quite a feat.
Bonus points if the entire network stack has been flattened using the hand-rolled equivalent of stream-fusion. :)