[boost] Language safety (Re: a safe integer library)

Subject: [boost] Language safety (Re: a safe integer library)
From: Josh Juran (jjuran_at_[hidden])
Date: 2015-12-10 16:30:57

On Dec 10, 2015, at 2:04 PM, Robert Ramey <ramey_at_[hidden]> wrote:

> To me this is a 30 year festering carbuncle on the face of C++/C.  For the language to permit the writing of an arithmetical expression and to permit it to fail silently, is a recipe for disaster which are are suffering from on a daily basis.  The amazing thing to me is that all languages have have this problem - even those which are interpreted!!!

Python has bigints by default, though it has other issues that make it unsafe.

> BUT now we have a realistic solution!!!.  I believe this is a practical, correct, elegant alternative which we can add on to C++ via a library such as this.  Then C++ can stand alone not only as the way to create the most efficient programs but the most correct one as well.  There will be no serious competitor.

I too have been concerned about this danger of C++, as well as others.  My solution is to develop a new programming language that combines C++ staples (such as regular types and convenient control of memory layout) with typical scripting language features (e.g. enforced memory safety), as well as its own quirks (aggressive compile-time computation, for one).  For starters it runs interpreted, but it's intended to be translated into other source languages, including C++.

There's more info at <http://www.vcode.org/>, if anyone's curious.

> I believe that C++/14 is going to usher in a whole new err for computation.

Freudian typo?  :-)

Josh