`malloc` is very different from "meta programming" though, `malloc` is all about runtime flexibility (allocation of unknown sizes with unknown lifetimes), meta programming is about raising the level of abstraction so that programs become shorter. Not that "meta programming" means much anyway.
But it's a futile discussion, it's not like you can influence the authors of DO-178 and tell them to abandon counter-productive, ill-defined restrictions. Or maybe you can.
