The difference between re-engineering and reverse engineering lies primarily in their goal and direction. Re-engineering aims to change or update a system for improvement, while reverse engineering aims to understand how an existing system works.
Based on the provided information: "Re-engineering is usually used to update the functionality of a product whereas reverse engineering is mostly used to peep into the working of the product and what goes into the making".
Re-engineering, often known as business process re-engineering (BPR) in the business context or software re-engineering in the technical realm, is about fundamentally redesigning core business processes or technical systems.
- Goal: To achieve dramatic improvements in performance metrics such as cost, quality, service, and speed.
- Focus: Changing how work is done or how a system functions to make it more efficient, modern, or effective. This often involves discarding existing structures and starting fresh with new processes or architectures.
- Output: A significantly altered or completely new system, process, or structure that is better optimized for current needs.
- Direction: Forward-looking, focused on future improvement and performance.
Examples of Re-engineering:
- Redesigning a company's entire order fulfillment process to integrate online sales and reduce delivery times.
- Rewriting an old software application from scratch using modern programming languages and architecture to improve performance and maintainability.
- Restructuring a product's internal components to add new features or improve existing ones significantly.
Understanding Reverse Engineering
Reverse engineering, on the other hand, is the process of analyzing a finished product to determine its design, specifications, or construction.
- Goal: To understand the internal workings, design principles, or source code of a system or product.
- Focus: Disassembling, analyzing, and documenting an existing system to figure out what it does and how it does it. This involves gaining insight into its components, interconnections, and logic.
- Output: Detailed documentation, models, or even source code representing the original system's design and functionality.
- Direction: Backward-looking, focused on understanding the existing or original system.
Examples of Reverse Engineering:
- Analyzing a competitor's product to understand its manufacturing process or design features.
- Examining compiled software code to understand its algorithms or recover lost source code.
- Disassembling a mechanical device to see how its parts fit together and function.
- Investigating malware to understand its behavior and develop countermeasures.
Key Differences Summarized
Here is a table highlighting the core distinctions:
| Feature | Re-engineering | Reverse Engineering |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Goal | To improve or update a system/process | To understand an existing system's workings |
| Direction | Forward-looking (Changing) | Backward-looking (Analyzing) |
| Focus | Redesigning, optimizing, adding features | Analyzing structure, function, components |
| Output | Improved or new system/process | Documentation, models, understanding |
| Purpose | Update functionality | Peep into working and making (as per reference) |
In essence, reverse engineering is about understanding what is, while re-engineering is about changing what is to what should be. Sometimes, reverse engineering is a necessary first step for re-engineering, especially if the original design documentation is missing.
