Code Viewing Application. - Overclock.net

**TheLegend** · 04-14-07

I am starting my venture into different coding instead of VB and HTML. I am wondering if a program exists that would allow the user to take an application or .exe file and put it into the program so decipher the code that was used to make it.

I have always been curious as to how certain programs work and I think this would be a fun utility. Obviously the code wouldn't be open source for most .exe files, but viewing them should still be legal.

Anything like the former exist?

C-bro · 04-15-07

They definitely have these, but the ones I've seen have been language-dependent. In other words, in order to decompile a .exe, you'd have to know what language it was written in, and decompile accordingly. I've used them for C before, and they decent, but produced different code than how I had originally written the program. A lot of optimization goes on in the linking and assembly stages of compiling, so you won't get the original program from the decompile.

**TheLegend** · 04-15-07

Quote:

Originally Posted by C-bro

They definitely have these, but the ones I've seen have been language-dependent. In other words, in order to decompile a .exe, you'd have to know what language it was written in, and decompile accordingly. I've used them for C before, and they decent, but produced different code than how I had originally written the program. A lot of optimization goes on in the linking and assembly stages of compiling, so you won't get the original program from the decompile.

What about something for Visual Basic or CCS/HTML? Any recommendations?

*CyberDruid* · 04-15-07

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheLegend

I am starting my venture into different coding instead of VB and HTML. I am wondering if a program exists that would allow the user to take an application or .exe file and put it into the program so decipher the code that was used to make it.

I have always been curious as to how certain programs work and I think this would be a fun utility. Obviously the code wouldn't be open source for most .exe files, but viewing them should still be legal.

Anything like the former exist?

Absolutely--I hjave to locate it for you. I believe it is made by Pepi MK--the same guys that make SpyBot S & D. It adds a menu when you right click so you can open the .exe in notepad.

However a quick and dirty way to do this is to make a copy then rename it .txt and open it in notepad..lol

How about this: http://www.l-space-design.com/Products/Code_Viewer.aspx

Her's th one from Pepi MK http://www.safer-networking.org/en/f...zer/index.html

**TheLegend** · 04-15-07

Quote:

Originally Posted by CyberDruid

Absolutely--I hjave to locate it for you. I believe it is made by Pepi MK--the same guys that make SpyBot S & D. It adds a menu when you right click so you can open the .exe in notepad.

However a quick and dirty way to do this is to make a copy then rename it .txt and open it in notepad..lol

Haha well let me give it a try quick.

**TheLegend** · 04-15-07

Ok well the notepad trick didn't work. Any idea what the app name is?

JoBlo69 · 04-15-07

being a programmer here is the short and sweat answer...

when you code in higher level languages like C you need to "compile" the code into an exe file that your computer can run...

when you compile somthing that is from a higher level programming language, it translates your code into machine code (ones and zeroes)...

so lets say you take a chunk of code like this...

Code:

cout << "Enter the output precision (an integer): ";
    cin >> p;
    if (!cin)
    {
        cout << "Input error.  Aborting.\n";
        return 1;
    }

when you compile this to an exe file it gets converted to machine language... (not really what it compiles to... just a visual)

Code:

101001010101010010010010101001010111101001010010101001010100101

so when you want to convert an exe file back to a understandable higher level language, the program that does this would be very sophisticated...

im sure apps like this are out there but it will be interesting to see how well they work...

**TheLegend** · 04-15-07

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoBlo69

being a programmer here is the short and sweat answer...

when you code in higher level languages like C you need to "compile" the code into an exe file that your computer can run...

when you compile somthing that is from a higher level programming language, it translates your code into machine code (ones and zeroes)...

so lets say you take a chunk of code like this...

so when you want to convert an exe file back to a understandable higher level language, the program that does this would be very sophisticated...

im sure apps like this are out there but it will be interesting to see how well they work...

Thanks for the information. A compiler is something im quite familiar with, but I just want to know if there is anything out there that will turn the complier or binary into actual code.

Maybe this should be my quest as a future programmer.

*CyberDruid* · 04-15-07

Maybe--the links I added above are to something called Filealyzer or something like that--supposed to allow you to view the code as a hex dump.

**TheLegend** · 04-15-07

Quote:

Originally Posted by CyberDruid

Maybe--the links I added above are to something called Filealyzer or something like that--supposed to allow you to view the code as a hex dump.

CyberD comes through in the clutch! I hope these work!

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Code Viewing Application.

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