Reverse engineering

Reverse engineering (RE) is the process of taking something (a device, an electrical component, a software program, etc.) apart and analyzing its workings in detail, usually with the intention to construct a new device or program that does the same thing without actually copying anything from the original. The verb form is to reverse-engineer, spelled with a hyphen.

Related Topics:
Device - Component - Software - Verb - Hyphen

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Reverse engineering is commonly done to avoid copyrights on desired functionality, and may be used for avoiding patent law, though this is a bit risky: patents apply to the functionality, not a specific implementation of it.

Related Topics:
Copyright - Patent

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Reverse engineering is often used by military in order to copy other nations' technology, parts of which have been obtained by intelligence operations. It was often used during the Second World War and the Cold War.

Related Topics:
Military - Technology - Intelligence - Second World War - Cold War

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Reverse engineering software or hardware systems for the purposes of interoperability, for example in order to support undocumented file formats or hardware peripherals, is mostly believed to be legal, though patent owners often aggressively pursue their patents.

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Other purposes of reverse engineering include security auditing, removal of copy protection ("cracking"), circumvention of access restrictions often present in consumer electronics, pure curiosity and customization of embedded systems, for example engine management systems.

Related Topics:
Cracking - Consumer electronics - Embedded systems

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