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I am looking for the exact verb for the action of searching in and working with a software in order to understand how it works.

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  • This is touching on the original meaning of "hacking". Originally the word did not have negative connotations, but applied to people who experimented with computer systems in order to understand how they worked. (Any more, the best term is probably "reverse engineering".)
    – Hot Licks
    Sep 26, 2015 at 23:18
  • Note that saying a software with an indefinite article is ungrammatical in English. Software is a mass noun; it cannot be counted. Perhaps you meant a program or a piece of software instead.
    – tchrist ♦
    Sep 27, 2015 at 14:50

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Are you looking for Reverse engineering?

Also called back engineering, it is the processes of extracting knowledge or design information from anything man-made and re-producing it or reproducing anything based on the extracted information. The process often involves disassembling something (a mechanical device, electronic component, computer program, or biological, chemical, or organic matter) and analyzing its components and workings in detail. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The question is vague, if not unclear. Discovery and exploration are nouns that fit your description. The corresponding verbs are discover and explore.

Exploring, trying, experimenting with, practicing with, etc. help you discover features of a product and how to use it.

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    I cannot imagine why this was downvoted. Care to say why? To me, searching within and working with some software, in order to understand it and see how it works, is discovery of its features (and possibly its innards).
    – Drew
    Sep 26, 2015 at 21:43
  • Well, one could argue that you should have made it a comment, though you did make a half-hearted effort at "answering".
    – Hot Licks
    Sep 26, 2015 at 23:21
  • @HotLicks: Why would it be a comment? The comment is that the question is not as clear as it might be. As far as I can determine correctly what is requested, this is an answer -- my answer. It directly answers the question about "searching and working with a software for understanding how to work". Nothing "half-hearted" about it. Beyond answering whole-heartedly, I suggested that the OP make the question even clearer, so s?he might get even better answers - that's an extra quarter heart of effort.
    – Drew
    Sep 27, 2015 at 0:10
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Learn (about)

Techno-phobic teachers will quickly give up on technology use when it doesn't work after they have spent many hours learning about the software and planning technology-enhanced lessons

famoliarize oneself with

Teachers are advised to spend time familiarizing themselves with the software.

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