Long-time lurker, infrequent poster, blah-blah-blah...

I've played around in the scene for several years now, purely for my own needs/education (never published anything), and would like to share some of the major character traits, all of which are inter-related, that I've noticed among the more successful reversers.

First and (IMHO) foremost, an intense CURIOSITY. The need to understand WHAT a program is doing, WHY it's doing it, WHEN it's doing it, WHERE it's doing it, and (in the case of multithreaded apps) WHO's doing it.

If you're a noob at reversing, it's axiomatic that there's LOTS of other people way smarter than you; well, maybe not smarter, but certainly more knowledgeable. Learn from them by reading their TUTES. Quite often their tutes are target-specific, and are simply walk-thru's: Step 1, Step 2, ... Step Last. That's okay, you can still learn something from them.

Whether searching/tracing thru an executable, or searching the Web, the intermediate goal is to get enough information to get to the sweet spot. Take whatever information you know, and build on it by SEARCHING & and actually READING what you get. KnowledgeBit 1 + KnowledgeBit 2 +... = KnowledgeBase. KnowledgeBase^n = Ability. Quite often you can find TOOLZ to help you get the information you need. (NOTE: Fravia, a premier +ORC Reverser, finally got bored with it, and now focuses on SEARCHING the Internet.) If you can't find it on Google, go to Searchlores and discover dozens of OTHER WAYS/PLACES to search. (BTW, Fravia's got no love for M*$oft, so use something other than IE, or you'll miss out. Opera Good, IE, not so much.)

I've seen seekers, too many to count, enter a forum (not just this one) and ask basically the same questions over and over again. Whether it's reversing, or raisins, people get plenty fed up with answering repetitive questions - hence the advent of FAQ's on just about any subject you care to name. People also get fed up with mentoring a noob, only to have said noob get tired of 'climbing the mountain' and bail.

If you're already a programmer, stepping (Gack! pun not intentional!) into reversing is fairly straightforward (hello? KnowledgeBase?); still, it's not easy. For the rest of us it can be a real chore. It is also incredibly rewarding for those of us who enjoy this sort of mental challenge.

As with any other board, if you're stuck the members here will be more than happy to show you another path - what's obvious to one can be completely obscured to someone else - but only if you're not stuck at the starting line.

I was considering flaming you and saying something to the effect of "well, duh", but then I realized... it would be nice if all newbies understood what you said above.
I agree with most of what you said... how did you come to these realizations and what do you recommend we do to teach these basics to other newbies?

i'll say "well duh" instead then ;p

The way that I explain my "fascination" with reversing to people is like this:
"Some people work crossword puzzles, I reverse protection systems."

And that's the truth, been at it since '84 on the C-64, lots of fun and games in that time.

I think it comes from "everyone has a computer now" mentality. The fact that most programs need a serial or license to operate fully, people want the "shortcut" to get to that singular goal. People don't give a shit about how the window is drawn, if its system modal, or any other constraints that make the window work, they want to know what it takes to unlock the code quick and simple.

The hard part is most don't meet two specific criteria: Software coding on any platform skills or an electronics background (Yes believe it or not, all of what is done in software land is a direct result of how hardware operates) to understand how binary, coding, and logical program flow operates.

Then you have the whole packer protector issue on top of that. There is no direct path for people to follow, many say search, but what exactly should they be searching for? Google brings many results, but many are not target specific. People need specificity to follow along, that is how the mind works. Most would say well they need to think outside the box, that is impossible when you don't know jack shit about how big the box is and what its limits are.

Great crackme sites help solve some of this, but still a fundamental knowledge is required.......then for things like keygenning, you have to have some fundamental knowledge of how high order language works. Sure one could learn ASM, but that is another whole learning curve within itself. So yes, veterans get annoyed alot by the same question. Fortunately, in my opinion, Lena151 made some great "ground up" tuts to at least kick start the engine for coders and non coders.

We were all noobs once, so i think the beginning poster has some good points but ultimately its like learning another language from the ground up.

But I do agree with "well duh".......LOL

kittmaster