---
title: 'Bootstrapping Understanding: An Introduction to Reverse Engineering'
osem_url: https://osem.seagl.org/conferences/seagl2018/program/proposals/448
beginning: '2018-11-09T13:30:00.000-08:00'
end: '2018-11-09T14:20:00.000-08:00'
presenters:
- name: Brian Raiter
  osem_url: https://osem.seagl.org/users/46
  gravatar_id: 21b92bcebd1324d0615b97c993469643
  biography: Brian Raiter is a professional software engineer, and a long-standing
    recreational programmer.
---

Most people associate reverse engineering with software exploits and malware. But reverse engineering encompasses a broad range of tools and techniques that have application anywhere you need to understand a program without being able to read the original source. Reverse engineering is a lot like applying the scientific method: make observations, formulate a hypothesis, test, refine ... and repeat.

In this talk, we will explore the reverse engineering process by taking the data files from an old computer game, and use reverse-engineering techniques to learn how to read them.

[Text of the presentation](https://www.muppetlabs.com/~breadbox/txt/bure.html)

[Notes from the talk](https://twitter.com/BR903/status/1061533093956206592)
