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Understanding How Reverse Engineers Make Sense Of Programs From Assembly Language Representations, Adam R. Bryant
Understanding How Reverse Engineers Make Sense Of Programs From Assembly Language Representations, Adam R. Bryant
Theses and Dissertations
This dissertation develops a theory of the conceptual and procedural aspects involved with how reverse engineers make sense of executable programs. Software reverse engineering is a complex set of tasks which require a person to understand the structure and functionality of a program from its assembly language representation, typically without having access to the program's source code. This dissertation describes the reverse engineering process as a type of sensemaking, in which a person combines reasoning and information foraging behaviors to develop a mental model of the program. The structure of knowledge elements used in making sense of executable programs are …