This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
31.10 Further Reading
Robust programming—the art of writing programs that work correctly and handle errors gracefully—is a topic of great interest, often in the guise of “secure programming.” Kernighan and Plauger’s book [1039] describes the principles and ideas underlying good programming style. Kernighan and Pike [1040] also discuss style and other elements of good programming. Stavely’s book [1819] combines formalisms with informal steps. Maguire’s book [1234] is much more informal, and is a collection of tips on how to write robust programs. Martin [1257] focuses on robust practices for agile programming, while McConnell [1277] discusses robust programming in the general context of software construction.
Howard and LeBlanc [926] discuss secure coding, emphasizing the Windows and .NET environment. Howard, LeBlanc, and Viega’s book [927] describes 24 serious but common software flaws and how programmers can avoid them.
Much focus is on the C and C++ programming languages, because of their wide use, lack of type-safe features, and ability to manipulate memory directly. Seacord [1704] and Viega and Messier [1935] discuss ways to make programs in these languages more robust and secure. Sutter and Alexandrescu [1843] present a set of coding standards for C++. Similarly, developing robust, secure web applications is critical, and several books [119, 1241, 1393, 1734] discuss how to do so.
Graff and van Wyk [804] provide a general overview of principles and practice, and much sound advice. Viega and McGraw’s book [1932] is also general, with many examples focusing on UNIX and Linux systems. Its design principles give good advice. McGraw [1287] expands on these in a later book. Garfinkel, Schwartz, and Spafford [747] has a wonderful chapter on trust, which is must reading for anyone interested in security-related programming. Wheeler [2000] also provides valuable information and insight.