Programming language evaluation criteria for safety-critical software in the air domain.

Ashmore, Rob; Howe, Andrew; Chilton, Rhiannon; Faily, Shamal

Abstract

Safety-critical software in the air domain typically conforms to RTCA DO-178C. However, latent failures might arise based on assumptions underpinning the programming language used to write the software, whereas the lack of empirical data may constrain the selection of a promising but untested language. To overcome this difficulty, we propose evaluation criteria drawn from RTCA DO-178C, to help quickly review the potential applicability of programming languages in the air domain. We illustrate the constraints by using them to evaluate the suitability of the Rust programming language.

Citation

ASHMORE, R., HOWE, A., CHILTON, R. and FAILY, S. 2022. Programming language evaluation criteria for safety-critical software in the air domain. In Proceedings of the 2022 IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) International symposium on software reliability engineering workshops (ISSREW 2022), 31 October - 3 November 2022, Charlotte, NC, USA. Los Alamitos: IEEE Computer Society [online], pages 230-237. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1109/ISSREW55968.2022.00072

• Conference Name: 2022 IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) International symposium on software reliability engineering workshops (ISSREW 2022)
• Conference Location: Charlotte, NC, USA
• Start Date: Oct 31, 2022
• End Date: Nov 3, 2022
• Acceptance Date: Aug 23, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Nov 3, 2022
• Publication Date: Dec 26, 2022
• Deposit Date: Aug 24, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 24, 2022
• Publisher: IEEE Computer Society
• Pages: 230-237
• Book Title: Proceedings of the 2022 IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) International symposium on software reliability engineering workshops (ISSREW 2022)
• ISBN: 9781665476799
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ISSREW55968.2022.00072
• Keywords: Programming language evaluation; Programming languages; Rust (Programming language); Aerospace computing
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1740527