Characterization of runtime resource usage from analysis of binary executable programs.

•A method is proposed to characterize a computer program's runtime resource usage from the analysis of its binary executable file.•The approach produces a phylogeny (hierarchical clustering) of programs based on syntactic similarities found in the executable code.•Rationales are introduced to explain that these similarities in the binary file correlate to corresponding similarities in runtime behavior.•The placement of a program in the binary-code phylogeny bears resemblance to the relative similarity of its runtime behavior with respect to the other programs.•Experimental results show numerically significant evidences that the soft computing method is capable of characterizing runtime profile from binary-code similarities.