Topic: C++ Decompiler
started by: Der_Teufel
This message has been edited by Der_Teufel on December 02, 2000 at 08:18 PM
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aventari
"Q: How do you tell an extrovert computer scientist? A: He looks at _your_ shoes when he talks to you."
quote:
Originally posted by Der_Teufel:
I have seen lots of Java decompilers, but since I don't know Jave it does me no good. I was just interested in seeing how some programs were written in C++.
A C++ Decompiler is typically not going to be real helpful in that respect. Since there are a lot of ways you can write code that boil down to the same assembly after optimizations (ie. rolled out loops, lookup tables, templates, other ickies), you're probably not going to get a very good glimpse at what the original source code was. There are exceptions, mostly in the C rhealm, but C++ is a trickier beast underneighth. Not to mention most programs you would want to try this on (games?) have the most critical routines written in inline assembly and have no real good counterparts in the C++ world.
So, for educational purposes involved in learning programming techniques, it's probably not going to be very helpful. If you're curious as to how to hack a program, there is a lot more benefit.
This message has been edited by Der_Teufel on December 04, 2000 at 03:26 PM
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"It's not peer pressure, its just your turn." - Unknown
I'd like to run one of those c decompilers on some of my code and see what it actually comes up with :]
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aventari
"Q: How do you tell an extrovert computer scientist? A: He looks at _your_ shoes when he talks to you."
They take what the program does and translate the operations into a language...
The original sourcecode isn't somehow stored in the program... so it doesnt know what the programmer called the variables.
Therefore it doesnt have anything else to call the variables except variable1, variable2 etc.
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"* Wenner pushes the "locate penis" button"
Anyway though, I have also been looking for a somewhat good decompiler...hopefully a free one...well, if a decompiler out there DOES, in fact exsist, I'm gonna find it, and soon
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-Sometimes a dagger in the dark is more effective than a hundred swords at dawn. -Officio Assassinonium, Warhammer
if your a creative programmer the only thing u'd need a decompiler for is to find out how programs encrypt/decrypt thing (eg. Kali serials stored in your registry)
This message has been edited by Wen on January 02, 2001 at 01:19 PM
Output was something in the nature of:
if (variable1 == variable2)
{
variable1 = function5(variable3);
}
I mean, seriously.. that's just an "if" statement.. the rest was absolutely horrendous...
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This message has been edited by Alarion on January 02, 2001 at 12:32 PM
So if you look at that, the farthest you can go backwards is Pure C++, which does not include any of the original programming style, or variable and function names. So, as Wen said, the only thing it would be useful for is to make a serial generator.
quote:
Originally posted by TonyD:
So, as Wen said, the only thing it would be useful for is to make a serial generator.
Only if your a creative programmer tho 
Some things can be really difficult to figure out how someone did something.
You could also use it to make a different client for a program (eg a different icq client)
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"* Wenner pushes the "locate penis" button"
To get a really good decompiler we'd need some really damn smart AI, and that's something we just don't have.