obfuscator vs. preprocessor

[metebalci]

Comparing an obfuscator (e.g. proguard) vs. c preprocessor (e.g. gnu cpp);

public static final int AAA = 1;
vs.
#define AAA 1

and using AAA in many different classes that is why it is public.

Is byte-code produced by obfuscator and preprocessor different ? I dont have enough knowledge about byte-code, so I didnt make any reverse engineering.

I dont really get if obfuscator does the same thing or not.

Thanks in advance.

MB

[shmoove]

It depends on the obfuscator used and the settings you use it with. Proguard with agressive settings will replace all public static final variables with hard-coded data so you would get the same effect.

You don't need any knowledge about the bytecode to check it for yourself. You can simply use a decompiler to decompile your obfuscated/preprocessed classes to see what happens in easy-to-read Java code.

shmoove

[metebalci]

Why would I preserve static finals in the production code, any reason ? Do I miss something ?

Thank your for the decompilation info.

Mete

[shmoove]

No reason, and like I said, with the proper settings they won't be preserved but they will be replaces with literals.

shmoove

[metebalci]

OK. Thanks so much.

MB