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Bugs are frequent, but most of them have limited scope, bugs that break everything from computers to smart toasters are rare.

As a C programmer myself I’m well aware of how big the mine field is, and I’m a big proponent for validation in the Rust style, but that was not the point.

This guide advocates for replacements for programs and libraries written in C++, with most of those replacements being written also in C++, but with “superior programming practices”, even when those replacements are very rarely used in most environments.



Even there it depends. 'Programming practices' is vague. Even C can be tamed, at great expense, using formal methods techniques. [0][1][2][3] Adoption of such methods can give a solid assurance of the lack of UB, like use of a safe language. Weaker measures, like adopting MISRA C, don't provide such strong assurances (although they can eliminate certain categories of errors), and as you indicate, their real value is a bit more subjective. Mandating a bad programming style could actively make things worse.

[0] https://trust-in-soft.com/

[1] https://www.eschertech.com/products/perfect_developer.php

[2] https://github.com/microsoft/Armada

[3] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/vcc-a-verif...




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