Название: Safe C++: Fixing Memory Safety Issues
Автор: David Spuler
Издательство: Aussie AI Labs Pty Ltd
Год: October 16, 2024
Страниц: 188
Язык: английский
Формат: pdf, epub, mobi
Размер: 10.1 MB

Learn about the memory safety debate, Rust versus C++, and the new Safe C++ standard. Examine pragmatic C++ techniques to use now for pragmatic memory safety in standard C++.

This book examines the new proposals for a standardized "Safe C++" extensions, along with a variety of pragmatic techniques for coding safe C++ programs, from beginner to advanced, along with a catalog of common C++ bugs to avoid.

Why Safe C++? If you're a C++ programmer, then why are you asking? You already know all about the issues with C++ and its lack of memory safety. The only real question is why everyone suddenly cares. There's really been two driving forces towards the need for a "Safe C++" language:
• Large software companies, and
• The U.S. Federal Government.
Large companies in the software development business, notably Microsoft and Google, have been complaining about C++ memory weaknesses for years. Notably, both Microsoft and Google reported the same percentage of failures attributable to memory safety issues: 70% of errors. These were mainly in the area of security, which is a subset of "safety," but the number 70% is so high that people started to pay attention to C++ memory issues. Following on from this, several initiatives in the U.S. Federal Government cited memory safety as not just an economic issue, but also a security issue. Guidelines are available for the use of memory-safe programming languages, and C++ is definitely not on that list. This culminated in public releases from the White House with reports about memory safety in software.

What To Do? An important point to make is:  this isn't the 1980s. Computers are massively faster than when the C and C++ languages emerged. Modern computers have the capability to defer more computational power to safety concerns without unduly reducing performance for users. Hence, whereas slowing down C++ for performance would have been anathema in decades past, it is quite plausible to do in the modern tech stack. Hence, drawing attention to the memory safety issues in C++ is not unwarranted, and some would say it's long past time to do so. Reactions by affected parties to the White House materials were varied, and included:
• Push to use Rust over C++,
• Defenders of C++ emerged, and
• The "Safe C++" initiative was launched.

Who This Book is For:
Anyone programming in C++ or trying to learn the language will benefit from better safety! skills! This book examines safety in coding from beginner to advanced, starting with basic techniques. In the later chapters, the book then covers a variety of advanced techniques.

Contents: