Can Audio Programming be Safe?
Safety is an increasingly discussed topic in relation to programming and often little or misunderstood. With organisations like the NSA and NIST recommending developers move away from memory unsafe languages (such as C & C++), there is a lot of uncertainty in the air about what this means for current programing practices. With a focus on the audio industry, are we even exposed to any of these risks?
In this talk we look at the different types of safety, including memory and functional safety, and how these relate to security. We see what risks we might be exposed to and the current strategies for mitigating them.
We then look into what possible alternatives to “memory unsafe languages” there are, why they are safer and if they are suitable for audio use. Should we all be migrating to Rust, Hylo, Swift or Cmajor? What can we learn from the approach these languages take?
Finally we look at existing tooling such as static analysers and sanitizers and see if these provide any safety nets for memory unsafe languages. What is the most pragmatic approach to audio development with one eye on the future landscape.
Dave Rowland
CTO
Tracktion/Prism
Dave Rowland is the CTO at Audio Squadron (owning brands such as Tracktion and Prism Sound), working primarily on the digital audio workstation Waveform, and the engine it runs on. David focuses on the architecture and real-time elements of the software.
In academia, David has taught on several modules at the University of the West of England on programming for audio. David has a passion for modern C++ standards and their use to improve code safety and brevity, has spoken at Meeting C++, C++ on Sea, C++ Online and is a regular speaker at the Audio Developer Conference and related monthly meetup. Past presentations: https://github.com/drowaudio/presentations/