Experts to discuss MISRA C:2012 standard, benefits for safety-critical applications in free LDRA half-day seminar

WIRRAL, U.K., 5 Oct. 2013.LDRA, a provider of automated software verification, source code analysis, and test tools, is announcing a free, half-day seminar on MISRA C:2012, which is being held at major U.S. cities. The seminar delves into the new features of MISRA C:2012 and how revised standard enables developers to take advantage of more C features, while avoiding unsafe C constructs in the development of safety-critical applications.

Anyone developing software with the potential to put lives at risk has an obligation to take every reasonable step to ensure that their work is sound, explains an LDRA representative. Adhering to standards is a key step in that process, and MISRA is the internationally recognized foundation for best coding practises.

Features of the language designed to increase application performance, developer productivity, and implementation flexibility are often the very features that such standards disallow. It has long been a source of trouble for developers; yet, MISRA C:2012, with its more flexible approach, changes the game in this respect, the spokesperson adds.

LDRA’s seminar, entitled “MISRA C:2012, Plenty of Good Reasons to Change - Learn from the Committee Experts,” discusses the newest version of the MISRA standard that helps developers mitigate risk for safety-critical applications. Speakers at the event provide the latest information directly from the MISRA committee and discuss plans for the future.

MISRA C:2012 is the latest version of the widely adopted MISRA safe-coding standard designed to help achieve software quality in aerospace and defense, automotive, industrial, medical, and rail applications that have a high cost of failure. The current MISRA C:2012 adds support for C99, increases the number of decidable rules to enable improved tool enforcement, includes detailed rationale for all rules, and offers guidance for automatically generated code. The first version, released in 1998 to target C90, was replaced by a 2004 version that provided extensions and improvements.

LDRA’s seminar is designed to benefit Project Managers, Software Engineers, System Engineers, Software Technical Leads, Verification Engineers, Process Engineers, Engineering Managers, Academics, and Regulators. Teaching the seminars is Chris Tapp, chairman of MISRA C++, member of the MISRA C Working group, and one of the authors of the new MISRA C:2012 standard.

“In our 40 years of working side-by-side with avionics developers, LDRA has helped more than 200 projects achieve certification, the majority of these meeting the most stringent, Level A, requirements,” confirms LDRA Operations Director Ian Hennel. “Such hands-on experience, coupled with executive-level participation at the FAA and EASA committee level, has enabled LDRA to develop superior training, service support, and tools to guide development teams in achieving certification in the safest, most efficient way.”

The MISRA Seminar will include:

• The reasons why MISRA C:2012 was developed and what is new since MISRA-C:2004?
• How the new standard can help you make better decisions about the use of popular programming language features
• How MISRA C:2012 provides backwards compatibility to protect legacy code
• How the introduction of “decidable and undecideable” prescriptive rules will help focus your test efforts
• A demonstration of how to achieve MISRA C:2012 compliance

The MISRA C:2012 seminars are being held in:

• Andover, MA – October 15, 2013
• Tysons Corner, VA – October 16, 2013
• Detroit, MI – October 17, 2013
• Phoenix, AZ – October 22, 2013
• Santa Clara, CA – October 23, 2013

To register for a MISRA C:2012 seminar, visit: www.ldra.com/misra-seminars.