Covert Java™: Techniques for Decompiling, Patching, and Reverse Engineering

Chapter 2. Decompiling Classes

	“When all else fails, read the manual.”
	--Murphy's Technology Laws

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Determining When to Decompile 13

• Knowing the Best Decompilers 14

• Decompiling a Class 16

• What Makes Decompiling Possible? 22

• Potential Problems with Decompiled Code 23

• Quick Quiz 25

• In Brief 25

Determining When to Decompile

In an ideal world, decompilation would probably be unnecessary, except when learning how other people who don't like to write good documentation implemented a certain feature. In the real world, however, there are often situations where a direct reference to the source code can be the best, if not the only, solution. Here are some of the reasons to decompile:

• Recovering the source code that was accidentally lost

• Learning the ...