I am a very new c++ programmer, having just learned the language
this year.
A few months ago I completed a course on Coursera that dealt with
the security aspect of c (which I don't know, but it is similar
enough):
https://class.coursera.org/softwaresec-008
The course highlighted just how dangerous c/c++ can be. My
reaction to the course has been an increased use of shared/weak
pointers over standard pointers, more judicious use of "assert"
and increased use of destructors, where class pointers are
destroyed via the destructor so I don't need to worry about
memory leaks as much (all of my non-vector arrays are
created/destroyed via a class w/ template).
Some of this slows programs down, but in reality it does not have
much of an impact. But doubt will always linger that I caught
every vulnerability. Therefore I am shopping for a language that
codes like c++ but is safer. It sounds like D may fit that
requirement.
My platform of choice is 64-bit Fedora using Code::Blocks (yes, I
use an IDE as a crutch). It seems that D supports this combo.
I have been lurking on this site over the past few weeks trying
to decide when (and if) to make the transition. Can anyone here
who has already made that transition tell me how smoothly it
went? Any major unexpected problems? Advice?
thanks!
Dan
