reverse engineering
<system, product, design> The process of analysing an existing system to
identify its components and their interrelationships and create representations
of the system in another form or at a higher level of abstraction. Reverse
engineering is usually undertaken in order to redesign the system for better
maintainability or to produce a copy of a system without access to the design
from which it was originally produced.
For example, one might take the executable code of a computer program, run it to
study how it behaved with different input and then attempt to write a program
oneself which behaved identically (or better). An integrated circuit might also
be reverse engineered by an unscrupulous company wishing to make unlicensed
copies of a popular chip.
(1995-10-06)
Nearby terms:
reuse « Reverse Address Resolution Protocol « Reverse ARP «
reverse engineering » Reverse Polish Notation » reverse
polish syntax » Revised ALGOL 60
