I'm glad you mentioned Python. Python, with its developers who accept raw pickle objects from the wild and are surprised when arbitrary code can be executed. Ruby's (and Python's) YAML libraries which execute arbitrary code. Javascript (and Ruby, and Python) developers pulling in untrusted and/or poorly tested libraries just to save a few lines of code. Rust with its `unsafe` blocks.
Seems like that padded floor has some rusted nails hiding right behind the pretty fabric.
RAII is not something limited to Rust, or C++, or any other language. The abstraction underpinning RAII can be done and has been done in C; you can see it done repeatedly in the code for collectd.
Its up to the developers to make their programs safe and reliable. No language to date will do that for them.
> Its up to the developers to make their programs safe and reliable. No language to date will do that for them.
But languages do make a huge contribution. For example, Rust, Ada and Modula-3 are all much safer by defaults alone compared to C. Most Rust code sits outside unsafe blocks, so the existence of this feature does not prove there is no point to Rust.
I didn't say anything along those lines. I said that it's up to developers to make their programs safe.
Defaults matter, no doubt. But they are not a silver bullet; greater base safety can even cause people to become lax when thinking about safety, resulting in even bigger problems. Why do Python developers accept and parse untrusted pickle objects? Because Python is safe, and they don't have to think about what's going on under the hood.
It's indirectly related to computer programming, but a study was done in Europe which showed that crashes in AWD vechicles were, on average, much more severe than 2WD vehicles. Why? Because of the added stability of AWD, people drove faster in adverse conditions.
Seems like that padded floor has some rusted nails hiding right behind the pretty fabric.
RAII is not something limited to Rust, or C++, or any other language. The abstraction underpinning RAII can be done and has been done in C; you can see it done repeatedly in the code for collectd.
Its up to the developers to make their programs safe and reliable. No language to date will do that for them.