> Keep in mind, of those 35 years, it only makes sense to consider the last decade-onward (or so) in comparison. While the language hasn't changed a whole lot, programming methodologies certainly have.
The last decade has seen an explosion of modern C++ code using best practices that routinely exhibits the same memory safety issues. C is worse.
> There are definitely issues with C no doubt--but so many people say C is dangerous and difficult when in fact they don't even practice using the language.
I practice C all the time and I think it's dangerous and difficult. I've seen so many brilliant programmers accidentally create game-over RCEs via use after free, for example.
Is it? You're telling me that all code in all browsers have been re-written into C++11 (or C++14) with best practices? I don't believe you. At a minimum, I'm going to need some documentation before I believe that.
[Edit: I'm not trying to pull a No True Scotsman here. I just doubt that browsers have been completely rewritten into modern C++, or with anything approaching best practices. I've seen how long old code lives to believe it without some supporting evidence.]
Most exploits tend to be in new code (contrary to popular belief), which in all modern browsers is written in modern C++. The WTF (Blink/WebKit) and the MFBT (Firefox) are state-of-the-art template libraries; you are free to search for those libraries and verify for yourself. New C++11 features such as rvalue references do nothing to avoid memory safety problems; in fact, they make them worse, since "use-after-move" is now a problem whereas it wasn't before.
I know it's hard to believe, but C++ is not memory safe, old C++ or modern C++, in theory or in practice. The new C++ features do effectively nothing to change this. As far as use-after-free goes, C++ basically adds safety over C in two places: (1) reference counting is easier to use and is easier to get right; (2) smart pointers are arguably somewhat less likely to get freed before accessed again due to the destructor rules (though I think (2) may not be true in practice). Browsers have been making use of these two features for a very long time.
Bringing up modern C++ here is "no true Scotsman" unless you can point to a specific C++11 feature that browsers are not using that is a comprehensive solution to the use-after-free vulnerabilities they suffer from. There is no such feature I am aware of.
No, I wasn't asserting that there is some magic C++ feature that the browsers aren't using. "Most exploits tend to be in new code" was the piece of your argument that I was missing.
I am certainly biased as I enjoy procedural languages for their simplicity. So many constructs in the others. As the saying goes, C++ is my favorite 4 languages. I hope that doesn't become the fate of Rust. Go-Lang seems to get that part properly then that's probably debatable.
The last decade has seen an explosion of modern C++ code using best practices that routinely exhibits the same memory safety issues. C is worse.
> There are definitely issues with C no doubt--but so many people say C is dangerous and difficult when in fact they don't even practice using the language.
I practice C all the time and I think it's dangerous and difficult. I've seen so many brilliant programmers accidentally create game-over RCEs via use after free, for example.