Programming Archives » Page 4 of 4

BlackBerry and Electrobit Bolster Automotive Safety Roadmap with Support for Rust Programming Language

Posted on 10/02/2023

Early integration of Rust strengthens BlackBerry^® QNX^® and Electrobit’s commitment to the open source community, greatly reducing developer friction and highlighting the future expansion of the companies’ safety portfolio

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 6, 2023 /CNW/ — BlackBerry Limited (NYSE: BB; TSX: BB) and Electrobit today announced they are collaborating on integration efforts to support the Rust programming language, empowering developers to build safe, reliable and efficient automotive software.

BlackBerry Logo Black (PRNewsfoto/Blackberry Limited)

As a memory-safe language, Rust provides a secure foundation for software to be built on and is quickly gaining momentum in the automotive industry, where mission-critical software is crucial. Memory safety vulnerabilities are often security flaws; research shows that memory safety issues have accounted for 60% to 70% of all vulnerabilities across a range of operating systems. Without these common issues which affect many other programming languages such as C and C++, Rust makes an ideal choice for safety-critical software.

“Rust is fast becoming an important tool for the developer community, and we listen to our customers when they say they need it supported,” said John Walls, SVP and Head, BlackBerry QNX. “Safety is our ethos, and shouldn’t be something you opt-in to.

A Compiler Writing Playground

Posted on 25/01/2023

“Create Your Own Compiler” is an interactive tutorial that shows step by step how to write your own simple compiler that transforms JavaScript into Lisp. Along with that, we take a look at what a compiler actually is and the state of the art that is Roslyn.

Compilers are important, but most people go day by day using their favorite programming language and tools without
thinking too much about them, ignoring what happens under the covers.

However peeking into that black box and learning to write a compiler gives you super powers. It will allow you to write custom tools, min languages/DSLs, make your own fully fledged language, or as in “Create Your Own Compiler”, transform one language to another!

A prime example of why the latter, in other words transpilation, has proved indispensable is the case of Babel. Since not all browsers are able to cope with all the latest Javascript language features, Babel translates the newest Javascript code into backwards compatible versions of JavaScript in current and older browsers or environments.

Yet another example is the case of Typescript which adds optional typing (on that matter make sure to also check Sorbet –

NSA Urges Organizations To Shift To Memory Safe Programming Languages

Posted on 17/01/2023

In a press release published earlier today, the National Security Agency (NSA) said it would be making a strategic shift to memory safe programming languages. The agency is advising organizations explore such changes themselves by utilizing languages such as C#, Go, Java, Ruby, or Swift. From the report: The “Software Memory Safety” Cybersecurity Information Sheet (PDF) highlights how malicious cyber actors can exploit poor memory management issues to access sensitive information, promulgate unauthorized code execution, and cause other negative impacts. “Memory management issues have been exploited for decades and are still entirely too common today,” said Neal Ziring, Cybersecurity Technical Director. “We have to consistently use memory safe languages and other protections when developing software to eliminate these weaknesses from malicious cyber actors.”

Microsoft and Google have each stated that software memory safety issues are behind around 70 percent of their vulnerabilities. Poor memory management can lead to technical issues as well, such as incorrect program results, degradation of the program’s performance over time, and program crashes. NSA recommends that organizations use memory safe languages when possible and bolster protection through code-hardening defenses such as compiler options, tool options, and operating system configurations. The full report is available here (PDF).