Obfuscation (software)

In software development, obfuscation is the practice of creating source or machine code that is intentionally difficult for humans or computers to understand. Similar to obfuscation in natural language, code obfuscation may involve using unnecessarily roundabout ways to write statements. Programmers often obfuscate code to conceal its purpose, logic, or embedded values. The primary reasons for doing so are to prevent tampering, deter reverse engineering, or to create a puzzle or recreational challenge to deobfuscate the code, a challenge often included in crackmes. While obfuscation can be done manually, it is more commonly performed using obfuscators.^[1]