The purpose of obfuscation is to make something harder to understand. In terms of code, it is made intentionally difficult to follow and/or whose syntax is intentionally unclear. It is similar to encryption, except that a machine can still understand and execute the code.
\nThere are 3 main reasons why someone might move away from good programming practices to obfuscated code:\n1️⃣Intellectual property protection - preventing or slowing reverse engineering efforts on proprietary code\n2️⃣Program security - making hacks and exploits difficult to find\n3️⃣Recreational purposes - as a puzzle or challenge
\nIt can often be reversed by using the same technique that obfuscated the data. Other times, it’s simply a manual process that takes time to work through.
\nAn example of obfuscation is the minification of code. This reduces code size by removing empty space and renaming variables.
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