Help ID'ing Language of Apps

[Wood Yee]

Hi! How can you tell what language an application is written in? For example, I'm trying to see what language certain email apps like Outlook and Lotus Notes are in. My question is how can you tell? For example, how can you tell what language Excel and Word are written in? I've tried to google this but didn't find what I was looking for. Thanks!

[mmelby]

Most stuff like Outlook and Word are written in mostly some form of C, with some routines written in ASM. I say mostly because some of the latest stuff is also written partly in .net and VB. Some applications written with RAD tools may be identified by looking in the EXE or DLL.

Hope this helps.

[slarty]

If you look at the library dependencies of an executable, it may reveal what language it was written in

Dependency on the C runtime library probably indicates it's written in C (or C++) (But not necessarily because other compilers may link to it).

If you "strings" the binary it can often be determined.

Bear in mind that stuff like M$ Outlook consists of a large number of modules linked together as DLLs or COM classes, hence they may not all be written in the same Language.

I imagine that Outlook is nearly all written in C++ however.

Lotus notes, I haven't got a clue. C++ maybe. Smalltalk maybe (IBM used to write a lot of stuff in Smalltalk)?

Slarty

[the_JinX]

<offtopic>

Why would you want to know what language a compiled app is writen in..
What good would it do you..

</offtopic>

A tool like resourcehacker can also help you determine what language a .exe is written in..

[Wazz]

Get a disassembler such as IDA Pro (The Best), or W32DASM. IDA Pro will tell you what language the proggie is written in. This is also a good way to understand how programs are written if you are just learning.... Hope this helps.