Foo - Is this possible computery people?

So I have an exe program I downloaded off a site. Is there a way I can view the codes that it took to build that program?

Yes, but you need a hack program to do it or you can use TransmitFile()

This isn't easy, and probably not worth trying unless you are a super geek.

Compiling an EXE first converts the source code (optimised for people to understand) into assembly code (optimised for computers to understand), then it turns it into the EXE.

You can sometimes get from the EXE back to the assembly code, but getting back to the source isn't easy. If you can understand assembly language then there's a chance, but I suspect it'd be quicker to program the whole thing again from scratch.

You can sometimes get from the EXE back to the assembly code, but getting back to the source isn't easy. If you can understand assembly language then there's a chance, but I suspect it'd be quicker to program the whole thing again from scratch.

You can't really say this with certainty unless you know WHAT exe he was talking about. If it was a "hello world" application it'd be easy to start from scratch. But if not the, well we'll just have to see.

Depdending on what language the program was originally written in, there are decompilers out there - but you won't get the exact source code they use AND most importantly for any substantial program, no comments to go with it.

I don't want to make assumptions but from how the OP is describin this problem, but it sounds like it's going to be way over your head.


Yes, but you need a hack program to do it or you can use TransmitFile()

This is a bunch of nonsense.

Possibly try and find code that does something similar, i.e., not the same code but a similar end result.

http://code.google.com/

You can disassemble code with IdaPro. Took me about 2-years to decode 8k of code in the Motronics boxes.

If it is open source, maybe just ask for the source?

If it is open source, maybe just ask for the source?

And if it isn't, maybe you shouldn't be trying to steal someones hard work and intellectual property.

So I have an exe program I downloaded off a site. Is there a way I can view the codes that it took to build that program?

Forget it EJ. It's barely possible, but quite frankly, not at your programming skill level.

You would need to decompile a program and view that.

Explanation: When you compile a program, the compiler takes your variable names and gives them very generic names like var1, var2 no matter what data type. Then it takes your instructions and breaks them down into much, much simpler instructions so that the code is 10x longer. Then it finds ways to some things that could be done more efficiently so it changes parts of the programs. Then it finds other things that you linked to (yes, you are linking to something any time you use a standard function) and puts that code in as well doing the same above process.

By the time you see the results even a seasoned programmer would barely recognize it from what "he/she wrote".


You are better off finding a program (like much GNU and Opensource) that offers the source code to you.

And if it isn't, maybe you shouldn't be trying to steal someones hard work and intellectual property.

Thats what i meant to say haha...