this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2024
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C++
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Honestly his defence is rather weak. “It’s been improving and there are ways to use it safely.”
That is not to say I agree with the administration’s statement. Not only is secure code only one aspect among a myriad to consider when choosing a language, using a “safer” language does not necessarily lead to more secure code.
I think it's a very good and clear point to make.
Some programming languages are blindly deemed "safe" in spite of supporting unsafe memory management strategies, and somehow not enforcing those rules does not render them unsafe.
Why is this logic not applied to C++?
Unsafe code, at least in Rust, is given special treatment and care. Such code is usually 5% or less of the total codebase. Such unsafe blocks are also commonly reused fundamental designs. This leads to them being designed as libraries that are shared.
You can of course give C++ the same consideration. But then 100% of that code base will have to be given special care. And the reusability of unsafe code goes out the window.
People who argue that Rust (not sure about GC languages) is equivalent to C and C++ because of escape hatches like unsafe, completely neglect the localization of unsafe code and the benefits it brings.