hey folks, I will like to know how to edit the source code of a software. What program is needed to edit source code?
The first thing you need is the source code.
Depending on what language that the source code is in you will then need an appropriate editor and compiler designed to work with that language.
edit a source code of a sw without the source? as in edit a .exe or an installed software? or make, edit and compile, as in making a software?
Edit source code of a software with the source available. Infact i bought a sought with ownership rights and i will like to edit the grapgics and links pointing to sellers site. That is to say; edit a .exe file
Hi, how do i determine the language used in writing the software. Is there any particular advice that can lead to identifying the language
You can’t edit an exe file - you have to go back to the original source to make the changes.
If you are allowed to change how it works then you should already have the source code or be able to obtain it.
How you tell what language a given program was written in is you look at the file extensions used for the source files - they usually identify the language. If not then you look at the source itself to see if you can work it out.
If all you have is the exe file and the source isn’t available to you then you only have rights to run the existing program and no rights whatever to change it.
well… you CAN edit an .EXE but it will take some skills in HEX and Assembly language to do so (and in many cases unpacking and packing). You may also need to compare and write a new checksum after the editing, if you have added more to it than the original .EXE contained.
If you have the time and skills, you can rewrite the whole app. But if you don’t have this knowledge, it’s as felgall said; - not editable.
Now, if you have the sources, you may still need knowledge of the used language to edit. It’s all depending on what you are going to edit…
This depends entirely on what the product was written in (the language) which you would need to ask the developer (or look at what file extensions the source code uses). There are hundreds of programming languages, whatever it was written in will be the language you will have to use, you will need an IDE + compiler for that language in order to edit the code, make changes and republish the files.
What it sounds like to me is you paid for a piece of software and you want to edit the product so it doesn’t have any reference to the original owner, you say the source code is available but you say you want to edit a .exe file, this is contradictory, executable files are not source code, and editing the executable if you don’t have the source code could be a violation of the licensing rights you have to the program (I am a developer and I know that most software businesses have a clause in their license stating that you don’t have the right to decompile, reverse engineer or modify the package), if the product has the source code… download it, view it using an editor… but if you want to edit an exe file, you don’t have the rights to the source code.
Check the extensions to the files, then Google the file extension and it will tell you what product it’s associated with… for example if it’s vbp / vb it’ll be visual basic, if it’s cpp / c it’ll be C++… or if you want to be really lazy, then ask the developer or check the website which houses the source code, it should say 
Not entirely true, some resource editors allow you to make basic structure changes without needing to know hex or assembly, but those changes are VERY limited.
lol yeah, you’re right of course. I forgot about the resource hackers/editors. but they are in most cases as you said “very limited” and in many cases they don’t work at all 
Anyway, if he sits only with the .exe, and have bought it without the source he can probably forget about it.
What he can do is ask for it’s source from where he bought it from and see what happends, and work from there…