You can use tools like FernFlower to help turn that bytecode into actual Java.
Comment on Minecraft is removing code obfuscation in Java Edition
NotSteve_@piefed.ca 3 days ago
I'm not super familiar with Java, but does this mean Java edition is basically source available, or is it still compiled Java bytecode but with proper variable names?
Matty_r@programming.dev 3 days ago
addie@feddit.uk 3 days ago
Indeed - most Java IDEs have FernFlower built in, so it’s dead easy.
Decompiled Java is surprisingly close to the original, especially compared to eg. decompiled C++; good luck with that. You get all the class, function and variable names back on the original line numbers.
What you do not get back is any comments. So you can see what and how, but not why. Admittedly, most comments are kind of useless and do not explain ‘why’ very well, but for weird-but-critical code they can be essential.
AkatsukiLevi@lemmy.world 3 days ago
The latter