Edit .exe files?

Hi!

Im looking for a program/editor where i can open .exe files, and edit/change the script.

(Just for open source project of course.)

once a program is compiled into a .exe, there is no turning back... the only way to get the sourcecode of a program is for the author to release it, hence the term open-source... check out www.sourceforge.net for a huge index of open source programs...

Hmm, ok...

But what is the most easiest way to create OWN programs then?

What software do i need for it?

well, you have to decide what programming language your going to use... then go download notepad++ as your editor program... then find a site specific to your programming language and learn how to do it and then download a compiler programmer to compile it to a .exe

Do you know any programming? If not, I'd suggest you to try Java first. Check Sun's java site for more information. Java won't create exe files, but the sources are compiled into bytecode which is read by an interpreter when the program is run. Many people say that Java is only good for little games on websites, but in fact when there's no need for fast 3D graphics or other code that needs to co-operate much with devices, I'd say Java is a very good choice. For example, the 3D engine for the game IL-2 Sturmovik is written in C++, but everything else is written in Java. Java is also the beginning language in many schools, including universities.

If you want a more challenging language, you could pick C or C++. However, many beginners may find great fustration with those. The C/C++ IDE (Integrated Development Environment) I use in Windows is Bloodshed Dev-C++. In Linux I use KDevelop.

Not all languages need compiling, there are scripting languages too, and PHP is one of them. PHP is used especially as a server side web scripting language. In fact, I don't know if many people use it for other purposes, although it is possible. Another easy scripting language is Python. There are even modules that allow creating GUI applications with them. PHPGtk for php (sorry, I found no good link) and PyGTK for Python.

Those are the easy choises. Then there's the good old Perl, which is widely used. Unfortunately, I have very little experience with Perl, so I'm not going to talk about it.

Wow, what a long post. I hope it helps (otherwise my fingertips bleed for nothing ;) ) Naturally this didn't cover all programming or scripting languages. The best way to begin programming --in my opinion-- is to pick a language that's said to be beginner-friendly, and get a book that's written for beginners.

Don't forget about VB, that makes exe's, and is supposed to be very easy to learn

the point of the exe file is to prevent others from looking at the source code...

ya... when you compile source code into a .exe file, all of your code turns into a whold bunch of 1's and 0's (binary code). I don't know but I think that'd be a little tough to edit...

also I think it is ussually illegal to decompile a program, because most license aggremants say you can not edit the program.

Ya, it is usually illegal, though some companies have won in cases involving reverse engineering (I beleive it was someone making a PlayStation emulator won a case in which they reverse engineered the PS BIOS). Anyway, the point of compiling isn't really to protect the code, its to put it into a machine readabl format. The computer doesn't care if you made it in C++, or VB, or whatever, it just runs the generated instructions. Compiling generally takes a while because it has to take all the instructions and put them into a computer readable form as opposed to a human readable form, it just so happens that the human readable form is pretty much lost in this translation, it can't be restored to exactly how it started. Its compiled to save time so the computer doesn't have to translate it every run. Thats the disadvantage to things like Java. Its put into a form that can be read by the interpreter, which then translates that into machine readable code, which is why its slower than a compiled language.

For an example on why "decompiling" doesn't work right, go to babelfish.altavista.com and translate a phrase like
"I need to go to the bathroom, do you have any fish?", translate that into another language, then translate it back, you probably won't get the same result. Same with code.

If you want to edit some aspects, you can generally use a resource editor, and a hex editor, both allow you to edit some of the stuff. A resource editor allows you to edit styles and such, and if you know the offsets and such, a hex editor can allow you to change numerical values, and limits and such

pickleman: Thanks for your great reply, now i know much more then before.

I didn't actually forget about it, I just didn't mention it, and here's why. When I started programming, I started with VB. Had I known more about other possibilities... well, I'm not sure if Java existed then, but anyway, had I known more about them, I'd picked one of the others.

Visual Basic is fast to learn, and it's fast to create simple programs with it, yes. But the programs created with it tend to be slower than with other languages, and they require runtime libraries that are very often missing from most computers. In addition to those, its syntax differs a lot from other languages. Many languages have syntax that looks like C syntax.

Example in VB


Example in C:


The most difficult difference to learn is that VB uses '=' in the if row and C uses '=='. Another good example is the for loop.

VB:


C:


What I'm trying to say here, is that VB might make learning other languages a bit difficult (well, so might Python.)

Well, of course you can do whatever you like

C looks just like php... If I know php (which I do) how hard would it be to pick up C?

Yeah... c++ and php are similar in syntax, but they are for two totatally diffrent purposes, and two totally diffrent concepts. But I think that c++ is easier to pick up after learning php because like you said the syntax is similar.

Example Php:


Example C++

Ya, I know they are two completely different things with completely different purposes but I could probably learn programming in C++ (actually making programs) pretty easily if I already know php... I will check it out for sure!