Reverse engineering is a technique that breaks down an object and allows others to recreate it. Today, many people associate reverse engineering with espionage, both in government and corporations. In the past, people like farmers copied tools that seemed to give an advantage to other farmers. Nations or states also use this technique to arm their armies with the best weapons or defenses to defeat approaching forces. Today the technique has been used in many other fields of work available to us, such as archaeology, manufacturing and computer analysis. Archeology can use reverse engineering when a machine is found but incomplete or broken. The archaeologist can break down equivalent modern machines and fearlessly what is missing from the rest of what has been found. Manufacturing sectors have also employed the use of reveres engineering to create computer design models of manufactured goods. This would create very accurate and extremely detailed plans that manufacturers wouldn't get from pictures or drawings. Computer analytics fields are another field that could benefit from Reverend Engineering. These camps could use programs to take down computer viruses to better understand how to create firewalls to stop them. Some of the first uses of reverse engineering began on the battlefield with competing armies trying to exchange the best weapons. The greatest ambition of many Western nations was to be able to create gunpowder without having to import it from China. This way, they would gain an advantage as the supply of gunpowder would come from within the nation and the supply would not run out. (Chase) Reverse engineering, however, wasn't just applicable to warfare in the past, man... middle of paper... take down programs like computer viruses to better understand them and protect or distribute them. Another way reverse engineering software has been used is to recover programs where parts of the program have been lost. Before the 2000 crisis, software reverse engineering was not widely used. However, after the Y2K scare, the turn-of-the-century revival of programs has become an important part of the modern world. (Moore) Improved understanding of software has led to more efficient software programs and firewalls against malware and viruses. Archaeology, manufacturing and computer analysis are just three of the many fields that employ the use of reverse engineering today. Past uses of reverse engineering such as reinventing weapons or tools are still in use today, however, the techniques have evolved to help improve the tools used today.