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Comment by Kranar | Hacker News Reader

There is a version of C++ that adds complete memory safety to the language by adding features to the language in a way that preserves complete backwards compatibility with existing C++ source code. That version of C++ is called Circle/Safe C++, it represents a monumental amount of effort that was written by a single individual, and it's a complete disgrace that the C++ committee has informally shut the door on that individual:

https://safecpp.org/draft.html

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There is even a reference implementation, so it could be added to existing compilers?

That would at the very least be better than what we have now.

> There is even a reference implementation, so it could be added to existing compilers?

I don't think it would be that straightforwards since this is one of those changes which depends pretty heavily on compiler internals, unlike library-only reference implementations. It'd be like taking a reference implementation in Clang and "adding it" to GCC/MSVC.

> it's a complete disgrace that the C++ committee has informally shut the door on that individual

What do you mean?

The committee very politely showed him the door.

Yes, I got that much, but I'm curious to see what happened. Do you have any links about it?

The interpretation is probably up for some debate especially since meeting details are not public, but some relevant links are:

- The P3390R0 Safe C++ proposal and the related vote in the 2024-11 Wrocław meeting: https://github.com/cplusplus/papers/issues/2045

- The adoption of the paper P3466 R1 (Re)affirm design principles for future C++ evolution at the same meeting, which contains language which can be interpreted as preemptively foreclosing a Safe C++-style approach: https://github.com/cplusplus/papers/issues/2121

P3466 resulted in a new Standing Document for the committee. SD-10 https://isocpp.org/std/standing-documents/sd-10-language-evo...

The idea in this document was to write down "principles" of the C++ language without regard to annoying facts which might put those principles in doubt.

Which individual are you referring to?

Almost certainly Sean Baxter, the person behind the Safe C++ proposal and its reference implementation (via Circle, which also implements some unrelated features)

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