Before one deploys a mission-critical system, a simple question has to be answered: what are the safety risks possible in the system? Miss a risk, and it ships into production undetected, awaiting a hazard in the field. Overstate a risk, and millions of dollars are spent in over-protecting a feature that didn’t need it. Every safety budget, every redundant sensor, every line of certified code traces back to how well that question is answered. In ISO 26262, the structured process for...

THE SAFETY PARADOX The best safety systems aren’t just good at responding to problems, they prevent problems from occurring in the first place. Modern cars have sensors that prevent you from colliding into obstacles. Planes have systems that won’t let pilots make dangerous maneuvers. But, the software that run these safety systems might not have the same kind of built-in safeguards. C and C++ are the programming languages that power most safety-critical systems from automotive to...