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A group working on the development of the hugely popular C++ programming language has outlined a path to make the language “memory safe” — just like its younger rival, Rust.
Rust has been embraced by Microsoft, AWS, Meta, Google’s Android Open Source Project, the C++-dominated Chromium project (sort of), the Linux kernel, and many more, which has helped to reduce memory security flaws. Even the National Security Agency (NSA) has recommended developers make a strategic shift away from C++ in favor C#, Java, Ruby, Rust, and Swift.
Widespread warnings about C++ security have prompted moves to plot a path forward for the “Safety of C++”, detailed in a paper by a group including Bjarne Stroustrup, the creator of C++, for the C++ Standards Committee Working Group 21 (WG21), which was released this month.
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The paper argues for technical changes and considers how C++ should address its “image problem” with safety.
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Apple is the latest tech giant to highlight security problems with C/C++ code in operating systems. The company is addressing memory safety in XNU, the kernel for iOS, macOS, watchOS, and more.
“Because nearly all popular user devices today rely on code written in programming languages like C and C++ that are considered “memory-unsafe,” meaning that they don’t provide strong guarantees which prevent certain classes of software bugs, improving memory safety is an important objective for engineering teams across
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