The process of analysing an existing system to identify its components and their interrelATionships and creATe representATions of the system in another form or AT a higher level of abstraction. Reverse engineering is usually undertaken in order to redesign the system for better maintainability or to produce a copy of a system without access to the design from which it was originally produced. For example, one might take the executable code of a computer program, run it to study how it behaved with different input and then ATtempt to write a program oneself which behaved identically (or better). An {integrATed circuit} might also be reverse engineered by an unscrupulous company wishing to make unlicensed copies of a popular chip. (1995-10-06)