11 mo. ago • 98%

The NSA advises move to memory-safe languages

www.nsa.gov U.S. and International Partners Issue Recommendations to Secure Software Products Through

FORT MEADE, Md. - The National Security Agency (NSA) joins Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and U.S. and international partners in releasing ”The Case for Memory Safe Roadmaps”

Hacker News @derp.foo The NSA advises move to memory-safe languages

14 comments

C#, Go, Java, Python, Rust, and Swift

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- so basically anything without manual memory management. I don't really see a good reason to shill particular names aside from discussions on performance impact of GC vs VM vs ownership
  
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  Not really manual memory management. I'd say C++'s memory management is automatic, just not safe.
  
  Yes, a lot of programming languages are memory safe, maybe it would be faster to list memory unsafe popular languages.
  
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  Sorry, are you saying the NSA's information sheet shouldn't have mentioned specific languages? Why not?
  
  3
If you aren't getting seg faults, are you really living?

27
Stop using C/C++

Spread the word far and wide.

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- Obscure hardware still gotta be supported somehow
  
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  What are you implying here?
  
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The NSA said this? Looks like it's just going to be assembly for me from here on out. /s, ofc

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- fedjacketing rust devs on the funny shaped ursine website
  
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Yes, they've been saying it for a year, at this point they're repeating themselves: https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2022/11/nsa-guidance-on-how-to-avoid-software-memory-safety-issues/amp

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I find it amazing that so many are clinging on to C++. It must be that sense of accomplishment when you finally succeed, having solved a bunch of problems on the way. C++ has had so many chances now. Many new standards coming out over the last decade. But the language is hardly simpler, just more to learn. See CoreCppGuidelines. This is what the 2 most prominent people of C++ want developers to learn in order to practice "safe" C++. This doesn't scale. A language needs to be built from the ground up for developers. Rust has taken a whole new concept and tried to solve memory issues directly with the compiler. Other languages are solving other kinds of issues (for differing kinds of use cases). A language should not put such a burden on the developer.

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Laughs in Assembler ...I wouldn't have had work using any of those languages because you can't manage the memory.

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