how to view a application's source code?

Question

i am curious to find out if you can view the applications source code

Answer 1

Only IF the source code is available.

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Many application do no provide the source code.

Answer 2

It depends on the application. If it's open source, you'll be able to see the source code. It might not be distributed with the application but you'll be able to find it somewhere. Otherwise, there's a good chance you won't be able to view it. Source code means nothing to the computer. It has to be compiled into machine language which the computer can then read and execute. Generally, programs are distributed in the form of this machine language. The source code is left out (because once the program has been compiled, it's no longer needed).



If you're just curious to see what code looks like, I can send you some source code of mine. Just email me at [e-mail].

Answer 3

The answer is- you can't.

For example, i can write a program (source code ) and compile and run it to form it's application. Now, the application is a file itself, it contains no connection to the source code- so there's no way i can find the application's source code just by using or decoding the program. This is why u can't just decode a game's app and make your own game, unfortunately. The most you can do is, you can open the app in notepad, and see the application's code (this is not the same as the source code). This code will not be in any programming language, nor in english, but it will be a random collection of weird symbols- total garbage to the human eye.

This is the correct answer, you won't find a better answer- so please just mark this as the best answer,

cause- the real thing is- i'm running real low on yahoo answer points, and i don't wanna reach 0.

Answer 4

Depends...LOL You`re talking to hyper detail-oriented programmers, so there`s ALWAYS a maybe. :-) I`m a .Net programmer, so my answer will be from that angle. You can view the source code during builds through VS and notepad as a text doc. Once deployed, no. Well, maybe (depends on the settings in deployment)....dlls, exes definitely not. Open source....... all through notepad before compiling. That`s all VB, C#, XML, etc. are...text files run through a compiler to "translate" them into computer language. So....hmmm...always depends on the type of application. HTML? Yep, if they`ve not locked down view source.

Answer 5

i've got used utility observed as ClassMapper to reconstruct source code from Java bytecode. as quickly as I used it on my very very own classification documents it did a frighteningly good interest! i'm optimistic there must be different utilities that do the comparable interest. of direction the reconstructed variables might have humorous names and there is not any comments (!), yet byte code *can* be switched over decrease back into source code of a style. seem up "java decompiler" on a seek engine.

Answer 6

Unless the source code, generally you cannot see it. Decompilers/disassemblers are available for most languages but the code they produce is almost impossible to understand. Since you asked this question it is almost certain that you could not use them.

Answer 7

Sure you can. You just have to have access to it provided by the developer. Open source projects, by definition, require the developer to publish the source code.



If it's a proprietary closed-source program though, and you're not privileged, then no.