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Why can't code be uncompiled?
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2024
104 points (95.6% liked)
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Could I trouble you to go deeper? I'm think I'm getting it but if we were to say uncompile GTA V or Super Mario Bros, could we make changes and figure it out from there or would it be complete nonsense with no way points to jump in at and get a grip on what is being done.
On a side note I was told once that everything is 1s and 0s and as a result that someone could type a picture of you if they got the order right. This could be why I'm so wrong in my understanding given I'm now assuming this was bullshit.
Here is a real world example of someone doing some reverse engineering of compiled code. Might help you understand what is possible, and some of the processes. https://nee.lv/2021/02/28/How-I-cut-GTA-Online-loading-times-by-70/
At a very low level, yes, everything is 1s and 0s. However, virtually nobody deals with binary anymore. Programming languages are abstractions over abstractions over abstractions not to have to deal with typing binary.
The point of programming languages is for humans to be able to read it and make sense out of it. It’s a way to represent in a kind of intermediate language that’s halfway between something humans can read and computers can interpret.
Say the game’s programmer wants to handle moving your character right on pressing the right arrow key. They might write some function called “handleRightArrow()”, which does whatever. Then your compiler will turn this to some instructions - read stuff in RAM at address XYZ, copy it over, etc. The original code with readable names, comments, documentation, proper organization, it’s gone. Once you decompile, it’s gonna be random function/variable names, compiler might have rewritten some parts of the implementation as automatic optimizations, unlined some functions, etc. The human readable meaning of the code is lost. It does the same thing as the original code, but it isn’t the original code either.