Safety and security are currently being called “an existential threat to C++”. To me C++ is a tool, a useful one, but at the end of the day it’s a tool. It has flaws which could be remedied, and there are other tools out there.
This talk will discuss how we got to an existential threat, and what our responsibility is now that we’re here. I’ll make the case that C++ is critical infrastructure, and that we have an ethical responsibility to remedy its problems. Doing so requires maturing the field of software engineering, which starts by understanding what “safety and security” really are. I’ll advocate for a scientific approach to resolving the problem, and conclude with a discussion of whether C++ is worth saving.
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JF is chief architect at Woven by Toyota. He chairs the evolution of the C++ programming language. JF has worked on a variety of compilers for a variety of programming languages, implementing language features, improving performance / security / safety, targeting novel architectures, and other fun things. See jfbastien.com.