One of the three major areas that C++17 is expected to address is “improving support for large-scale dependable software.” A general understanding of ‘dependable software’ is the notion that the product should reliably perform the task it was designed for, and when given erroneous inputs the program should not be allowed to blindly continue execution, thereby possibly causing serious harms. In another words, an abrupt program termination is preferable to an exploited program vulnerability.
“Contracts” are a language feature being considered by the ISO C++ standards committee for C++17. They offer a basic mitigation measure, and early containment mechanism, by allowing a C++ programmer express more formally (instead of just comments) in code the requirements of a function interface. They offer a complement to conventional static type checking, and move comments closer to mechanized scrutiny. This presentation will explore the design space, previous efforts, the importance of analysis tools (both static and dynamic), and how contracts provide greater integration and support.
