Find out what reverse engineering is and learn why it is so important!

"Every successful engineer was a curious child!" This statement may seem a bit bold and even exaggerated, is it not? After all, successful professionals from many areas were children who wondered why. Engineering, however, has a slightly closer connection to all that curiosity.

The answer to this relationship between engineering and the world of children is simple. Every child, at some point in their childhood, has dismantled or intended to dismantle an object to find out how it works, be it a toy or even the first computer. Soon, even without knowing it, they were practicing what we call reverse engineering.

In this article you’ll understand the reverse engineering by the following topics:

• How did reverse engineering come about?
• Is reverse engineering a legal practice?
• What are the benefits of using reverse engineering in industry?
• Reverse Engineering vs. Software Engineering
• How to use reverse engineering in practice?
• Ready to use reverse engineering?

So if you're curious to know more about Reverse Engineering continue reading this article.

How did reverse engineering come about?

Contrary to what many people think, Reverse Engineering is not synonymous with Reengineering, but rather part of the whole concept that covers this area of ​​knowledge.

So we can say that reverse engineering is the study of an object, system, or device to know how it was created, what technology was used, and how to create a better one from its analysis.

Regarding its origin, there is no exact period for the emergence of Reverse Engineering, but this child's play became a serious issue in World War II when the Japanese began to study the technology used in weapons and other military equipment of their enemies.

Is reverse engineering a legal practice?

The use of Reverse Engineering has always been much questioned in the industrial environment. After all, when the subject is the famous "Copy but does not do the same", there is always a doubt about the suitability of what was done.

However, for most scholars of this subject, Reverse Engineering is not considered illegal, because it is only the study of what was done, besides being an area of ​​knowledge that opens the way for the emergence of new technologies.

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What are the benefits of using reverse engineering in industry?

Have you ever stopped to consider that launching a successful product always comes with the launch of similar products from other brands?

This is because many industries, such as telephone companies, use Reverse Engineering to develop new products from the technology created by competing companies.

From the economic point of view, this technique is positive because it is not necessary to invest in research for the creation of new technologies. According to a strategic perspective, the chance of this product to succeed in this case is great, since the company competitor managed to win customers with the same type of product.

However, this practice of benchmarking is not well accepted in all parts of the world. In the United States, for example, the "Digital Millennium Copyright Act" restricts the use of Reverse Engineering in the area of ​​computing, allowing only software and hardware compatibility analysis.

Reverse Engineering vs. Software Engineering

There is no way to talk about Reverse Engineering applications without mentioning Software Engineering, after all, in the programming area, reverse engineering is the object of study of essential areas, such as the discovery of the software operation of competing companies and elaboration of new programs from software with outdated technology.

In addition, Software Engineering is an area strictly linked to programming languages, database and software design standards. In this way, Reverse Engineering can be divided into two areas:

• Reverse Engineering without the source code: When researchers do not know the programming language used in a given system.
• Reverse Engineering with the source code: Researchers have the knowledge of the programming language, but they do not know the global aspects.

How to use reverse engineering in practice?

Now that you know what Reverse Engineering is, this concept need not only be applied in the industry or a reminder of childhood games. You can and should use this technique in your everyday life to facilitate your learning ability.

For example, if you want to study to pass a public competition but do not have a lot of time to dedicate yourself try to follow the following steps:

• Note: Read the previous tests and see what are the most charged subjects.
• Write down: Make a list of the main content you should study.
• Question: Do not believe everything people say about the test, try to stay calm during your studies.
• Organize: Make a study schedule.
• Test: Reboot all previous tests.

Ready to use Reverse Engineering?

Now that you know what Reverse Engineering is, I'm sure you'll look at it with other eyes when you see a child dismantling a new toy and will probably want to help it!

But, joking aside, you should watch how this concept interferes with your day to day life and use it to your advantage to succeed in your personal and professional life.

Do not forget to leave your comment, we want to know what you think of this text.

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