Techno-Babble

JAD vanished from the internet

I recently started doing Java development again and went off looking for the trusty Jad compiler, which I planned on using with the JadClipse so that I could browse straight into any class.  Not for the purpose of cribbing someone else’s code, but for faster, better comprehension of how to use other libraries.  In .NET I use Reflector for the same purpose, although it doesn’t compare to the usability experience of JadClipse.  (really, nothing compares to the usability experience of using Eclipse — I think it’s one of the single best pieces of software ever written).  

But unfortunately, the Jad website has vanished from the internet.  Can you believe that?  In this day and age, when all you need is a place to host a couple of pages and a couple of small zip files, it’s just gone, and in its place is a dumb generic domain landing page.  

It’s crazy that there is no where else to get Jad.  Crazy because there are tons of tools that sit on top of Jad.  JadClipse, cavaj, JD Decompiler, etc.  But the heart of the thing is Jad, and every one of those tools requires you to download Jad separately, but oops:  Jad has vanished from the internet.  

I managed to find an old version of the Jad exe on an old machine, but then today I tried looking around and found that Tomas Varaneckas set up a mirror.  It was hard to find however, so I’m posting the link here for posterity.  Thanks Tomas!

Fortunately, someone thought to set up a mirror.

Tags: Eclipse, Java