Reverse engineering is a discipline built on curiosity, precision, and the willingness to take apart complex systems to understand their internal logic. Applied Reverse Engineering provides a comprehensive, practitioner-focused guide to analyzing, dissecting, and repurposing software using modern techniques grounded in Python and C++.
Readers learn how to examine binaries, debug at both high and low levels, identify structural patterns, extract program logic, and understand how compiled languages map to machine-level behavior. The book bridges conceptual understanding with practical tooling, covering disassembly, decompilation, dynamic analysis, memory inspection, executable formats, and secure protocol analysis.
Whether the goal is security research, software compatibility, exploit development, malware analysis, or intellectual curiosity, Applied Reverse Engineering emphasizes reproducible workflows, correct methodology, and real-world application. Each chapter builds toward mastery by connecting algorithmic reasoning with hands-on experimentation, culminating in a toolbox of techniques that enable readers to reverse engineer with confidence and intent.
Topics Include:
- Foundations of reverse engineering and system internals
- Disassembly and decompilation strategies
- Static vs. dynamic analysis workflows
- Debugging binaries and interpreting compiler artifacts
- Python for automation and analysis scripting
- C++ internals, object models, and ABI considerations
- Memory analysis and secure protocol behavior
- Anti-analysis techniques and how to defeat them
- Malware case studies and exploit methodology
- Ethical, legal, and operational considerations for practitioners
Applied Reverse Engineering is written for security researchers, software engineers, penetration testers, malware analysts, and deep technical learners who want to elevate their understanding of how software truly functions beneath the abstraction layers.