Viewing java classes

[Gink]

Is it possible to view the java classes source code or to get it somehow?
I'd really like to see how some of the classes work if its possible

[server_crash]

Decompile it. I believe you can download some decompilers but I can't recommend any, because I've never done this..

[freesoft_2000]

Hi everyone,

Be very careful about what you do with the decompiled source code as some of them may be copywrited and trying to use these source codes entirely on its own or pass them as your own can really be HUGE trouble for you.

Richard West

[server_crash]

That and some classes are protected by some device that won't let you decompile...Althought I think there is a way around them.

[jwenting]

Nothing will stop decompilation but the usefulness to human readers of the generated code can be made pretty poor :)

And indeed NEVER pass off decompiled code as your own, and NEVER decompile code you didn't get explicit permission for to decompile it.
Such code is copyrighted to someone else and may contain patented information you have no right to.
And if you do get permission to decompile something often you'll get the source as well :)

[paradox814]

there are also a lot of obuscators which will obuscate your code, aka rename all your variables/methods/classes into completly meaningless terms. for instance

So some variable like studentName might be renamed to a variable called a
and methods will be likewise renamed, so you might see a lot of:

a.fek23();

while this isn't fool proof it will still take a lot of time (and patience) to understand the code

Here are two links to some decompilers, I have never used a decompiler and therefore have no idea if these are any good or not, but please do let me know if they work
http://jode.sourceforge.net/
http://www.devdaily.com/java/edu/pj/pj010021/

[paradox814]

if you want the source code for Sun's java classes click the link here and just keep going until you find the class you need

http://java.brangle.com/source/