Decompiler

A decompiler is a computer program that translates executable programs (the output from a Compiler) into an equivalent (relatively) high level language (source code). By comparison, a Disassembler translates an executable program into assembly language.

) often include extensive metadata and high-level features that make decompilation quite feasible, while machine-code is typically leaner and much harder to decompile.

Discussion of legal and ethical issues of decompilation can be found in the article on reverse engineering.

=See also=

*Disassembler *Decompilation *interpreter (computer software) *Linker *Abstract interpretation

=External links=

*[http://www.program-transformation.org/Transform/DeCompilation The DeCompilation Wiki] discusses various aspects of decompilation: history, research, decompilers for machine code, Java programming language, Visual Basic, and so on.

*[http://www.aisto.com/roeder/dotnet/ Lutz Roeder s .NET Reflector] is a widely adopted tool combining a class browser and a Decompiler for the purpose of navigating and understanding code libraries.

*[http://www.netdecompiler.com Dis# - .NET decompiler] which allows you to edit local variables and other names in the decompiled code and keep the changes in a project file.

*[http://boomerang.sourceforge.net/ The Boomerang Decompiler] is an attempt at a retargetable machine code decompiler. It is presently capable of decompiling small binary files (pentium, SPARC, and Power PC) to the C language. Boomerang is available under a BSD-like license, and can be run on various Unix and Windows platforms.

*[http://www.backerstreet.com/rec/rec.htm REC - Reverse Engineering Compiler] by Giampiero Caprino. REC is a portable reverse engineering compiler, or decompiler. It reads a machine code file, and attempts to produce a C-like representation of the code and data used to build the executable file. While source code is not available, binary distributions of REC for several platforms can be downloaded for free.

*A detailed [http://www.debugmode.com/dcompile article] on various aspects of decompilation, including how to decompile an executable by hand.

*[http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/q=decompiler Citations from CiteSeer]

*[http://www.itee.uq.edu.au/~cristina/dcc.html dcc - Dos C Decompiler] decompiles .exe files from the (i286, DOS) platform to C programs.