The Future of C++ Is Memory Safe

As the dominant systems programming language since the ’80s, C++ came to prominence decades before memory safety was a common concern for engineers, much less governments. With the advent of practical systems languages such as Rust and Swift that provide memory safety by default, and the broad consensus that the vast majority of security vulnerabilities are due to memory safety issues, calls from industry, academia and governments have grown increasingly strident that future systems should be developed in memory safe languages. With many billions of lines of C++ pervading the most critical software throughout the world, this represents an enormous challenge. Fortunately, new research backed by practical results from some of the largest C++ codebases in the world show that the vast majority of old code does not need to be rewritten, and I will make the case that C++ can and should evolve to provide memory safety for new code, helping to ensure its future viability and a better, safer world for everyone whose lives are impacted by computer technology.