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Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved The Weird and The Wonderful
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  • D dan sh

    Is this called obfuscation?

    50-50-90 rule: Anytime I have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability I'll get it wrong...!!

    I Offline
    I Offline
    Ian Shlasko
    wrote on last edited by
    #6

    If that's obfuscation, I'm not impressed... If I wanted to make it REALLY confusing, I'd do something like this:

    const string blarphnik = "51209576120381929170992";
    string elkabong = Convert.ToChar(int.Parse(blarphnik.SubString(1,2))

    • int.Parse(blarphnik /* If I had a pet monkey, I'd name it blarphnik */.SubString(8 /* What a nice number */,1)))
    • Convert.ToChar(int.Parse(blarphnik.SubString(18, 2))
      / int.Parse(blarphnik.SubString(6,1) /* Todo: Fix this */));

    And then I would publish this as part of a self-help book entitled "How to Drive a Programmer Insane"

    Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in? Author of Guardians of Xen (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novel)

    P D OriginalGriffO P 4 Replies Last reply
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    • I Ian Shlasko

      If that's obfuscation, I'm not impressed... If I wanted to make it REALLY confusing, I'd do something like this:

      const string blarphnik = "51209576120381929170992";
      string elkabong = Convert.ToChar(int.Parse(blarphnik.SubString(1,2))

      • int.Parse(blarphnik /* If I had a pet monkey, I'd name it blarphnik */.SubString(8 /* What a nice number */,1)))
      • Convert.ToChar(int.Parse(blarphnik.SubString(18, 2))
        / int.Parse(blarphnik.SubString(6,1) /* Todo: Fix this */));

      And then I would publish this as part of a self-help book entitled "How to Drive a Programmer Insane"

      Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in? Author of Guardians of Xen (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novel)

      P Offline
      P Offline
      PIEBALDconsult
      wrote on last edited by
      #7

      Make the constant string a resource and put the constant ints in the config. :-D

      I 1 Reply Last reply
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      • P PIEBALDconsult

        Make the constant string a resource and put the constant ints in the config. :-D

        I Offline
        I Offline
        Ian Shlasko
        wrote on last edited by
        #8

        No no no... It's harder to hide it that way. With code like this, you want it buried deeply inside a commonly-used DLL in a not-quite-obsolete language, so when you get laid off and the next guy in line decides to rewrite the code and modernize it, they have a heart attack when they see it. At least, That was probably what some of my predecessors were thinking...

        Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in? Author of Guardians of Xen (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novel)

        P 1 Reply Last reply
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        • P PIEBALDconsult

          A BASIC developer new to C#?

          jofli wrote:

          Recieved

          And maybe didn't graduate high school either? :-D

          L Offline
          L Offline
          Luc Pattyn
          wrote on last edited by
          #9

          PIEBALDconsult wrote:

          A BASIC developer new to C#?

          No way. Any Basic developer would use either Chr$(13) & Chr$(10) or vbCrLf, both much more readable than the OP. :)

          Luc Pattyn [Forum Guidelines] [Why QA sucks] [My Articles]


          I only read code that is properly indented, and rendered in a non-proportional font; hint: use PRE tags in forum messages


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          • J jofli

            Reflector showed me this 'gem' in a contractors project:

            string cBRK = Convert.ToChar(int.Parse("13")).ToString() + Convert.ToChar(int.Parse("10")).ToString();

            this.ReportStatus("93101Bytes" + cBRK + BytesRecieved.ToString() + cBRK + fileSize.ToString() + cBRK);

            kind regards, JoFli

            D Offline
            D Offline
            David Skelly
            wrote on last edited by
            #10

            My guess is that this is an artifact of Reflector, not of the original coder. I do know that in VB, the Chr() function actually does use Convert.ToChar internally so my guess is that C# does the same. Who knows what Environment.NewLine does internally. I assume that the compiler has in-lined the Chr function, and Reflector has simply given you back what the compiler produced. Anyone with too much free time on their hands and a handy copy of Reflector is invited to experiment to find out what the compiler does with this sort of thing. Reflector is showing you what the code looks like after the compiler has munged it around and played merry havoc with your beautiful code.

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            • D David Skelly

              My guess is that this is an artifact of Reflector, not of the original coder. I do know that in VB, the Chr() function actually does use Convert.ToChar internally so my guess is that C# does the same. Who knows what Environment.NewLine does internally. I assume that the compiler has in-lined the Chr function, and Reflector has simply given you back what the compiler produced. Anyone with too much free time on their hands and a handy copy of Reflector is invited to experiment to find out what the compiler does with this sort of thing. Reflector is showing you what the code looks like after the compiler has munged it around and played merry havoc with your beautiful code.

              D Offline
              D Offline
              David Skelly
              wrote on last edited by
              #11

              OK, there is no Chr function in C# but you know what I mean.

              L 1 Reply Last reply
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              • I Ian Shlasko

                If that's obfuscation, I'm not impressed... If I wanted to make it REALLY confusing, I'd do something like this:

                const string blarphnik = "51209576120381929170992";
                string elkabong = Convert.ToChar(int.Parse(blarphnik.SubString(1,2))

                • int.Parse(blarphnik /* If I had a pet monkey, I'd name it blarphnik */.SubString(8 /* What a nice number */,1)))
                • Convert.ToChar(int.Parse(blarphnik.SubString(18, 2))
                  / int.Parse(blarphnik.SubString(6,1) /* Todo: Fix this */));

                And then I would publish this as part of a self-help book entitled "How to Drive a Programmer Insane"

                Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in? Author of Guardians of Xen (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novel)

                D Offline
                D Offline
                dan sh
                wrote on last edited by
                #12

                I should have placed the joke icon. :doh:

                50-50-90 rule: Anytime I have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability I'll get it wrong...!!

                1 Reply Last reply
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                • I Ian Shlasko

                  If that's obfuscation, I'm not impressed... If I wanted to make it REALLY confusing, I'd do something like this:

                  const string blarphnik = "51209576120381929170992";
                  string elkabong = Convert.ToChar(int.Parse(blarphnik.SubString(1,2))

                  • int.Parse(blarphnik /* If I had a pet monkey, I'd name it blarphnik */.SubString(8 /* What a nice number */,1)))
                  • Convert.ToChar(int.Parse(blarphnik.SubString(18, 2))
                    / int.Parse(blarphnik.SubString(6,1) /* Todo: Fix this */));

                  And then I would publish this as part of a self-help book entitled "How to Drive a Programmer Insane"

                  Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in? Author of Guardians of Xen (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novel)

                  OriginalGriffO Offline
                  OriginalGriffO Offline
                  OriginalGriff
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #13

                  Tcha! The youth and inexperience shows! Every real programmer knows that the best compression method is to use a random number generator with the correct seed to regenerate the uncompressed file - then all you need to do is send the seed. Extending this:

                          Random rs;
                          const string blarphnik = "51209576120381929170992";
                          int dontTouchThis = int.Parse(blarphnik.Substring(12,1));
                          rs = new Random(dontTouchThis);
                          StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(2);
                          sb.Append(Convert.ToChar(rs.Next(15)));
                          int dontTouchThisEither = int.Parse(blarphnik.Substring(10,1));
                          rs = new Random(dontTouchThisEither);
                          sb.Append(Convert.ToChar(rs.Next(15)));
                          string cBRK = sb.ToString();
                  

                  No trees were harmed in the sending of this message; however, a significant number of electrons were slightly inconvenienced. This message is made of fully recyclable Zeros and Ones "Rumour has it that if you play Microsoft CDs backwards you will hear Satanic messages.Worse still, is that if you play them forwards they will install Windows"

                  "I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
                  "Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt

                  I 1 Reply Last reply
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                  • OriginalGriffO OriginalGriff

                    Tcha! The youth and inexperience shows! Every real programmer knows that the best compression method is to use a random number generator with the correct seed to regenerate the uncompressed file - then all you need to do is send the seed. Extending this:

                            Random rs;
                            const string blarphnik = "51209576120381929170992";
                            int dontTouchThis = int.Parse(blarphnik.Substring(12,1));
                            rs = new Random(dontTouchThis);
                            StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(2);
                            sb.Append(Convert.ToChar(rs.Next(15)));
                            int dontTouchThisEither = int.Parse(blarphnik.Substring(10,1));
                            rs = new Random(dontTouchThisEither);
                            sb.Append(Convert.ToChar(rs.Next(15)));
                            string cBRK = sb.ToString();
                    

                    No trees were harmed in the sending of this message; however, a significant number of electrons were slightly inconvenienced. This message is made of fully recyclable Zeros and Ones "Rumour has it that if you play Microsoft CDs backwards you will hear Satanic messages.Worse still, is that if you play them forwards they will install Windows"

                    I Offline
                    I Offline
                    Ian Shlasko
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #14

                    Oh right, I totally forgot about that... But you have to comment your code to make sure it's legible!

                    Random rs;
                    const string blarphnik = "51209576120381929170992";
                    int dontTouchThis = int.Parse(blarphnik.Substring(12,1));
                    rs = new Random(dontTouchThis /* That's what SHE said! */);
                    StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(2);
                    sb.Append(Convert.ToChar(rs.Next(15)));
                    int dontTouchThisEither = int.Parse(blarphnik.Substring(10,1));
                    rs = new Random(dontTouchThisEither /* That's what her SISTER said */);
                    sb.Append(Convert.ToChar(rs.Next(15)));
                    string cBRK = sb.ToString();

                    Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in? Author of Guardians of Xen (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novel)

                    1 Reply Last reply
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                    • D David Skelly

                      OK, there is no Chr function in C# but you know what I mean.

                      L Offline
                      L Offline
                      Lost User
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #15

                      The correct code in C# is "\r\n" which is ldstr "\r\n" in MSIL (which is generated exactly like that by the C# compiler)

                      D 1 Reply Last reply
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                      • L Lost User

                        The correct code in C# is "\r\n" which is ldstr "\r\n" in MSIL (which is generated exactly like that by the C# compiler)

                        D Offline
                        D Offline
                        David Skelly
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #16

                        The OP doesn't say that the code was written in C#, it was reverse engineered using Reflector. Reflector is capable of taking code written in VB and decompiling it back into C#. The resulting C# code may look pretty odd, but you will at least be able to see what it is doing.

                        J 1 Reply Last reply
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                        • D David Skelly

                          The OP doesn't say that the code was written in C#, it was reverse engineered using Reflector. Reflector is capable of taking code written in VB and decompiling it back into C#. The resulting C# code may look pretty odd, but you will at least be able to see what it is doing.

                          J Offline
                          J Offline
                          jofli
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #17

                          That's right, but afaik he only codes c#.

                          D 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • J jofli

                            That's right, but afaik he only codes c#.

                            D Offline
                            D Offline
                            David Skelly
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #18

                            Well, OK, maybe he's just an idiot. As far as I am aware, Reflector doesn't stop people from writing bad code and will happily decompile bad C# back into bad C#. GIGO, as they say. For what it's worth, the MS .NET Framework implementation of C# Environment.NewLine returns a literal constant "\r\n". No idea what Mono does. So if the contractor wrote this in C#, goodness only knows what was going through his brain. Nothing, probably, if he's like some of the contractors I've known.

                            1 Reply Last reply
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                            • P PIEBALDconsult

                              A BASIC developer new to C#?

                              jofli wrote:

                              Recieved

                              And maybe didn't graduate high school either? :-D

                              J Offline
                              J Offline
                              jofli
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #19

                              PIEBALDconsult wrote:

                              jofli wrote: Recieved And maybe didn't graduate high school either? Big Grin

                              http://www.recieved.co.uk/[^] Well, at least he tried to use English namings. And I must admit that sometimes it's not that easy, if you're not a native speaker.

                              1 Reply Last reply
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                              • I Ian Shlasko

                                No no no... It's harder to hide it that way. With code like this, you want it buried deeply inside a commonly-used DLL in a not-quite-obsolete language, so when you get laid off and the next guy in line decides to rewrite the code and modernize it, they have a heart attack when they see it. At least, That was probably what some of my predecessors were thinking...

                                Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in? Author of Guardians of Xen (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novel)

                                P Offline
                                P Offline
                                PIEBALDconsult
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #20

                                Ian Shlasko wrote:

                                It's harder to hide it that way.

                                No, it hides it in different places; your way has all the information in one place. Plus, using a resource and config makes it brittle -- if someone changes or removes the entries chaos will ensue.

                                I 1 Reply Last reply
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                                • J jofli

                                  Reflector showed me this 'gem' in a contractors project:

                                  string cBRK = Convert.ToChar(int.Parse("13")).ToString() + Convert.ToChar(int.Parse("10")).ToString();

                                  this.ReportStatus("93101Bytes" + cBRK + BytesRecieved.ToString() + cBRK + fileSize.ToString() + cBRK);

                                  kind regards, JoFli

                                  D Offline
                                  D Offline
                                  David Skelly
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #21

                                  Come to think of it, why are you having to reverse engineer the contractor's project? If he wrote the code while in your employ, I would expect that you would own the intellectual property rights to the code, and normally you would expect to have a copy of the source after his contract ends. Unless you bought this from him as a finished product rather than contracting his time to write it for you. In which case, he owns the copyright and reverse engineering it could be a breach of the licence terms (which normally forbid that sort of thing).

                                  T M 2 Replies Last reply
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                                  • P PIEBALDconsult

                                    Ian Shlasko wrote:

                                    It's harder to hide it that way.

                                    No, it hides it in different places; your way has all the information in one place. Plus, using a resource and config makes it brittle -- if someone changes or removes the entries chaos will ensue.

                                    I Offline
                                    I Offline
                                    Ian Shlasko
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #22

                                    Nah, the point is that everything looks normal from the outside... Then you drill down into the utility functions, and each one is completely illegible. So you've already ported half of the library, and now you don't want to touch it because you're afraid you'll miss something and break an edge condition.

                                    Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in? Author of Guardians of Xen (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novel)

                                    N 1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • I Ian Shlasko

                                      Nah, the point is that everything looks normal from the outside... Then you drill down into the utility functions, and each one is completely illegible. So you've already ported half of the library, and now you don't want to touch it because you're afraid you'll miss something and break an edge condition.

                                      Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in? Author of Guardians of Xen (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novel)

                                      N Offline
                                      N Offline
                                      NormDroid
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #23

                                      Nice thinking, job security at it's best.

                                      Software Kinetics (requires SL3 beta) - Moving software

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • D David Skelly

                                        My guess is that this is an artifact of Reflector, not of the original coder. I do know that in VB, the Chr() function actually does use Convert.ToChar internally so my guess is that C# does the same. Who knows what Environment.NewLine does internally. I assume that the compiler has in-lined the Chr function, and Reflector has simply given you back what the compiler produced. Anyone with too much free time on their hands and a handy copy of Reflector is invited to experiment to find out what the compiler does with this sort of thing. Reflector is showing you what the code looks like after the compiler has munged it around and played merry havoc with your beautiful code.

                                        C Offline
                                        C Offline
                                        ClementsDan
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #24

                                        The Chr() = Convert.ToChar() thing makes some sense, but why int.Parse("13") instead of just 13?

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        0
                                        • D David Skelly

                                          My guess is that this is an artifact of Reflector, not of the original coder. I do know that in VB, the Chr() function actually does use Convert.ToChar internally so my guess is that C# does the same. Who knows what Environment.NewLine does internally. I assume that the compiler has in-lined the Chr function, and Reflector has simply given you back what the compiler produced. Anyone with too much free time on their hands and a handy copy of Reflector is invited to experiment to find out what the compiler does with this sort of thing. Reflector is showing you what the code looks like after the compiler has munged it around and played merry havoc with your beautiful code.

                                          G Offline
                                          G Offline
                                          Gideon Engelberth
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #25

                                          Looks like temp = Chr(13) + Chr(10) gets decompiled into temp = "\r\n"; so the compiler is smart enough to actually make the string when you call Chr with a constant. Environment.NewLine shows up as a property call in Reflector, but the JIT may inline it as a literal string. There's no way Reflector would generate what the OP is seeing unless the code really was that bad.

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