Bootstrapping Understanding: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering
1–10 of 12 posts
Re: Bootstrapping Understanding: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering
#2Niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers niggers.
Re: Bootstrapping Understanding: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering
#3I absolutely loved that game! I played the Windows version when I was younger.
That guy is a mad genius. It's great knowing there are people who can figure out a two-byte compression scheme (and even know what it is to begin with) by just looking at the binary dumps.
Re: Bootstrapping Understanding: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering
#4This one is going on my permanent list of links to recommend.
When it comes to learning these sorts processes, there is a hierarchy of related phenomena required to succeed:
motivation > intuition (experience) > patience/persistence/determination > skill (aptitude) > tools
When people are learning to program, I always tell them that regardless of their preference between books, videos, classes or peyote, the most important thing they need to persevere is a problem or project that they passionately want to see through to the end. This urgency translates directly to giving a shit, which is something I believe is critically missing when implementing a TODO clone in language framework X.
My hierarchy above can be viewed from another lens: in what order does having ample supply of this trait open the aperture for all of the others that follow?
Being really patient and having access to Stack Overflow can make up for a lack of skill. Doing something for a long time can occasionally make short work of a project if you see the answer quickly. However, nothing else in the chain matters if you aren't urgently motivated to reach the conclusion. When you feel genuine need to see something through, everything else clicks into place.
Re: Bootstrapping Understanding: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering
#5I absolutely loved that game! I played the Windows version when I was younger. That guy is a mad genius. It's great knowing there are people who can figure out a two-byte compression scheme (and even know what it is to begin with) by just looking at the binary dumps.
Thank you for the compliment, but I hope my essay convinces you that it's actually not as hard as it sounds!
Re: Bootstrapping Understanding: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering
#6I absolutely loved that game! I played the Windows version when I was younger. That guy is a mad genius. It's great knowing there are people who can figure out a two-byte compression scheme (and even know what it is to begin with) by just looking at the binary dumps.
Thank you for the compliment, but I hope my essay convinces you that it's actually not as hard as it sounds!
Horrible article. It had me glued to the screen in rapt interest and I ended up losing track of time, causing me to be late for a meeting.
Actually, I have been biting at the bit to get into reverse engineering after discovering some of Chris Domas' [0]. However, my hand has been stayed simply by a lack of somebody to learn from and nerd out with on the topic. Would you be able to share any communities you are aware of in this regard?
Really though, awesome article. Thank you for taking the time to write and share it!
Re: Bootstrapping Understanding: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering
#7Great writeup! A good reminder that in reverse engineering you can get pretty far just with static analysis and a bit of educated guesswork. Also a fantastic demo of using statistics to get a foothold into how the files are structured.
If anyone is interested in some similar research, I did a video writeup using very similar techniques for reversing the graphics format of a cutesy platform game - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0x7KU4wLGw
Re: Bootstrapping Understanding: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thank you for the compliment, but I hope my essay convinces you that it's actually not as hard as it sounds!
Horrible article. It had me glued to the screen in rapt interest and I ended up losing track of time, causing me to be late for a meeting. Actually, I have been biting at the bit to get into reverse engineering after discovering some of Chris Domas' [0]. However, my hand has been stayed simply by a lack of somebody to learn from and nerd out with on the topic. Would you be able to share any communities you are aware…
Thanks for the kind feedback. Unfortunately I don't know much about communities. Most people who do reverse engineering focus on examining code/assembly, but my limited experience is solely with data files.
Re: Bootstrapping Understanding: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Horrible article. It had me glued to the screen in rapt interest and I ended up losing track of time, causing me to be late for a meeting. Actually, I have been biting at the bit to get into reverse engineering after discovering some of Chris Domas' [0]. However, my hand has been stayed simply by a lack of somebody to learn from and nerd out with on the topic. Would you be able to share any communities you are aware…
Thanks for the kind feedback. Unfortunately I don't know much about communities. Most people who do reverse engineering focus on examining code/assembly, but my limited experience is solely with data files.
This was a great post with references to many tricks and tools I was not aware of that might help me in similar endeavors. Do you have any particular advice for reverse engineering image data files (not encrypted, of a completely proprietary format)?
Re: Bootstrapping Understanding: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks for the kind feedback. Unfortunately I don't know much about communities. Most people who do reverse engineering focus on examining code/assembly, but my limited experience is solely with data files.
This was a great post with references to many tricks and tools I was not aware of that might help me in similar endeavors. Do you have any particular advice for reverse engineering image data files (not encrypted, of a completely proprietary format)?
I'm afraid that's something I don't have any experience with. However, another commenter mentioned a cool video he did on just this subject, at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21728298 -- so maybe check that out?