Software Reverse Engineering as a Sensemaking Task
Adam R. Bryant, Robert F. Mills, Gilbert L. Peterson, Michael R. Grimaila · 2012
Software reverse engineering involves analyzing computer program executables to understand their structure, functionality, and behavior. In this paper, common reverse engineering functions are decomposed to isolate the information-processing and sensemaking subtasks involved. This paper reviews the applicable literature on eliciting mental models of software reverse engineers. Based on the literature, a taxonomy of common processes is developed which leads to a methodology to elicit and represent reverse engineers' mental models of the tasks.