Did you manually convert the assembler, or automate it ? With regard to manual conversions, I'm with you 100% - no thanks. :-)

But, my understanding is that the bulk of the work done in this case was done by a conversion tool that was designed and developed by a group of 8 people led by the gentleman referred to in the article (Jian Wang). The conversion tool project was the work that I was referring to in my comment.