The most fun that I ever had writing code was when I wrote my own tool called Leak Browser (screen shot below). This used in memory disassembly and binary code rewriting / hooking techniques, I wrote most of it before Microsoft Research published the Detours library. I wrote this on my own time, and used it to rescue/debug some major financial trading products where other tools had failed. It was extremely successful, in that it was vastly better than Rational Purify, Numega Bounds, and Geodesic Great Circle. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to commercialize it (long story). This code low trapping calls deep within the user mode part of the operating system. This was my passion, it is what I worked on in evenings, weekends, and went to bed thinking about. For years I have dreamed of working in a similar domain again.
Screen shot of my software which used code instrumentation.
