Abstract

This paper presents our technique for automatically decompiling Java bytecode into Java source. Our technique reconstructs source-level expressions from bytecode, and reconstructs readable, high-level control statements from primitive goto- like branches. Fewer than a dozen simple coderewriting rules reconstruct the high-level statements. 1 Introduction Decompilation transforms a low-level language into a high-level language. The Java Virtual Machine (JVM) specifies a low-level bytecode language for a stack-based machine [LY97]. This language defines 203 operators, with most of the control flow specified by simple explicit transfers and labels. Compiling a Java class yields a class file that contains type information and bytecode. The JVM requires a significant amount of type information from the class files for object linking. Furthermore, the bytecode must be verifiably well-behaved in order to ensure safe execution. Decompilation systems can exploit this type information and well...

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