How ILDASM saved my job...
Seriously it did! So the past week has been hell. I've lost several pieces of source code in the past week. This happened funny enough during a routine upload to the Source Safe database. I hit check-in then BOOM, harddrive dies. Needless to say, I was pissed. After several hours of yelling at the IT dept for supplying me with obviously sub standard equipment, I set about trying to get my code back. Luckily I had deployed a compiled copy of the app to the dev server. Okay I thought, I'll just get the dll and decompile. Wrong! The app was in VB.Net and I could only find apps that decompiled back to C#. I could have converted the C# to VB.Net and I would have but some of the apps I tried wouldn't even attempt to read the DLL. I then found
Reflector by Lutz Roeder. Great app I recommend it to you all.
Unfortunately there was a few bugs that would not let get at some of the most important pieces of the code.
Blast! So I hunker down and load up ILDASM. After rummaging around the IL a sudden haze fell over my eyes and the room started to spin. Then as my head hit the keyboard, it all became clear. I got the code back I needed and all is well. This
article is a must read for anyone thinking of starting to read IL.
The moral of this diatribe? Learn it, Live it, Love it. ILDASM: It will save your ass!
