Blog
A compiler is more than ‘just a translator’
After a recent webinar, someone stayed online to talk more about compilers. They were surprised by the complexity and potential safety impact of the compiler - “To be honest, I thought it was just a translator.” As we have often...
The Emergent Safety of a Piece of String
What constitutes ‘the safety of a compiler’? This is a question that keeps us busy on a daily basis. The question however is not that easy to answer, because the safety of a compiler does not exist. Safety is an emergent property -...
Efficient computing for AI and autonomous cars
More and more ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) are added to cars, trucks and even trains. For those vehicles to function optimally, there has to be a lot of development in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), sensor...
Robust testing of function calls is essential to compiler qualification
You can only have real confidence in a compiler if you know it’s been rigorously tested. While testing a compiler against the relevant language specification is relatively straightforward, ensuring that it correctly exercises complex...
How does compiler qualification actually work?
We frequently discuss compiler qualification and its importance in making sure that your safety-critical components work properly and adhere to safety standards. But what actually is compiler qualification? How does it work? In...
Two things you can depend on: the C language and SuperTest
It’s the end of another decade. One that saw supercomputer performance grow by a factor of 100, so Moore’s law is still going strong. Almost as old as Moore’s law, the C language and SuperTest are also alive and kicking. With the...
Using an open-source ISA makes compiler validation essential
Open-source software is everywhere – in the global IT infrastructure, in our PCs and in our cars. On the other hand, open-source hardware is far less visible. With the emergence of RISC-V that may be about to change. While we see...
Tailor-made compiler qualification for a perfect fit
The realisation that qualified compilers are a necessity in the development of safety-critical applications is finally hitting home in the automotive industry. Yet not every company has the capacity to qualify a compiler themselves...
Discover source code errors before someone else does
As programmers, we all make mistakes. Writing first-time-right C or C++ code is very unusual. One important function of a compiler is to spot these errors, issue diagnostics and prevent object code generation. If a compiler fails to...
Application source code testing is not enough
It may sound as too obvious, but there is a big difference between the source code and the compiler generated code for an application. For one, compiler generated code is more complicated, because it often includes duplicated, and...