Code Style

for Compilers
Prof. Philip Koopman

18-642 / Fall 2020

“Programming can be fun, so can
cryptography; however they should
not be combined.”
– Kreitzberg and Shneiderman
© 2020 Philip Koopman 1
 Coding Style: Language Use
 Anti-Patterns:
 Code compiles with warnings
 Warnings are turned off or over-ridden
 Insufficient warning level set
 Language safety features over-ridden

 Make sure the compiler understands what you meant

 A warning means the compiler might not do what you think
– Your particular language use might be “undefined”
 A warning might mean you’re doing something that’s likely a bug
– It might be valid C code, but should be avoided
 Don’t over-ride features designed for safe language use
© 2020 Philip Koopman 2
 The C Language Doesn’t Always Play Nice
 Defined, but potentially dangerous
 if (a = b) { … } // a is modified
 while (x > 0); {x = x-1;} // infinite loop
BAD
 Undefined or unspecified  dangerous CODE!
 You might think you know what these do …
… but it varies from system to system
 int *p = NULL; x = *p; // null pointer dereference
 int b; c = b; // uninitialized variable
 int x[10]; … b = x[10]; // access past end of array
 x = (i++) + a[i]; // when is i incremented?
© 2020 Philip Koopman 3
 Language Use Guidelines & Tools
 MISRA C, C++
 Guidelines for critical systems in C (e.g., no malloc)
 Portability, avoiding high risk features, best practices

 CERT Secure C, C++, Java

 Rules to reduce security risks (e.g., buffer overflows)
 Includes list of which tools check which rules

 Static analysis tools

 More than compiler warnings (e.g., strong type warnings)
 Many tools, both commercial and free. Start by going far past “–Wall” on gcc

 Dynamic Analysis tools

 Executes the program with checks (e.g., memory array bounds)
 Again, many tools. Start by looking at Valgrind tool suite
© 2020 Philip Koopman 4
 MISRA C
2012
Example

[MISRA C-2012 Guidelines; Fair Use] © 2020 Philip Koopman 5

 Let the Language Help!
 Use enum instead of int
 enum color {black, white, red}; // avoids bad values
 Use const instead of #define
 const uint64_t x = 1; // helps with type checking
uint64_t y = x << 40; // avoids 32-bit overflow bug
 Use inline instead of #define
 If it’s too big to inline, the call overhead doesn’t matter
 Many compilers inline automatically even without keyword

 Use typedef with static analysis

 typedef uint32_t feet; typedef uint32_t meters;
feet x = 15;
meters y = x; // feet to meters assignment error https://goo.gl/6SqG2i

 Use stdint.h for portable types

 int32_t is 32-bit integer, uint16_t is 16-bit unsigned, etc. © 2020 Philip Koopman 6
 2012 Open Source Coverity Scan
 Sample size: 68 million lines of open source code
 Control flow issues: 3,464 errors
 Null pointer dereferences: 2,724
 Resource leaks: 2,544
 Integer handling issues: 2,512
 Memory – corruptions : 2,264
 Memory – illegal accesses: 1,693
 Error handling issues: 1,432 QUESTIONABLE
 Uninitialized variables: 1,374
 Uninitialized members: 918
CODE
 Notes:
 Warning density 0.69 per 1,000 lines of code
 Most open source tends to be non-critical code
 Many of these projects have previously fixed bugs from previous scans
http://www.embedded.com/electronics-blogs/break-points/4415338/Coverity-
Scan-2012?cid=Newsletter+-+Whats+New+on+Embedded.com © 2020 Philip Koopman 7
 Deviations & Legacy Code
 Use deviations from rules with care
 Use “pragma” deviations sparingly; comment what/why

 What about legacy code that generates

lots of warnings?
 Strategy 1: fix one module at a time
– Useful if you are refactoring/re-engineering the code
– Sometimes might need to keep warnings off for 3rd party headers
 Strategy 2: turn on one warning at a time
– Useful if you have to keep a large codebase more or less in synch
 Strategy 3: start over from scratch
– If the code is bad enough this is more efficient … if business conditions permit
© 2020 Philip Koopman 8
 Or – You Can Use A Better Language!
 Desirable language capabilities:
 Type safety and strong typing (e.g., pointers aren’t ints)
 Memory safety (e.g., bounds on arrays)
 Robust static analysis (language & tool support)
 In general, no surprises

 Spark Ada as a safety critical language

 Formally defined language; verifiable programs
Wikipedia
– The language doesn’t have ambiguities or undefined behaviors
https://goo.gl/3w6RF6
 You can prove that a program is correct
Spark Ada is a subset
– E.g., can prove absence of: array index out of range, division by zero of the Ada
programming
– (In practice, this makes you clean up your code until proof succeeds)
language.
 Key idea: design by contract
– Preconditions, post-conditions, side effects are defined © 2020 Philip Koopman 9
 Language Style Best Practices
 Adopt a safe coding style (or a safe language)
 MISRA C & CERT C are good starting points
 Specify a static analysis tool and config settings
– To degree practical, let machines find the style problems
 When static analysis is set up, add dynamic analysis
 The point of good style is to avoid bugs
 Let the compiler find many bugs automatically
 Reduce chance of compiler mistaking your intention
 Coding style pitfalls:
 “The code passes tests, so warnings don’t matter”
 Real bugs lost in a huge mass of warnings
 Making it too easy to deviate from style rules © 2020 Philip Koopman 10
https://goo.gl/pvDMHX CC BY-NC 2.0 https://goo.gl/pvDMHX CC BY-NC 2.0
https://xkcd.com/1695/ © 2020 Philip Koopman 12