For decades, C++ has powered the world’s most critical systems—from banking infrastructure and trading platforms to game engines, aerospace software, and embedded devices. Its unmatched performance and control make it the tool of choice when efficiency matters most.
But that control comes at a cost.
C++ assumes minimal guard rails. It assumes the developer knows exactly what they’re doing. It gives devs the keys to memory management, pointer arithmetic, and direct system access. In the right hands, that’s a superpower. In the wrong context—or under the wrong assumptions—it’s an open door to memory corruption, security vulnerabilities, and undefined behavior that can go unnoticed for months or even years.
These are the kinds of bugs that prompted the US government to issue a warning to use “memory-safe” programming languages instead. They warned that C++ may sink systems, cause outages, and create costly production incidents in critical systems. And the problem has finally reached a breaking point.
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The C++ Safety Debate Has Gone Public
In the past year, memory safety in C++ has become a front-page topic. Federal agencies like the NSA have publicly urged developers to adopt “memory-safe” languages such as Rust, while C++’s creator, Bjarne Stroustrup, has argued that the future of the language lies in safer C++, not in abandoning it.
The C++ standards committee has been actively developing proposals for “Safety Profiles”—restricted subsets of the language designed to limit dangerous constructs and undefined behaviors. Meanwhile, the CERT guidelines and C++ Core Guidelines continue to evolve toward stronger rulesets for safer code.
But let’s be realistic: Most developers aren’t working on greenfield Rust projects. They’re maintaining large, mixed-quality C++ codebases that have been in production for years—if not decades. Rewriting all of them in a new language is hardly practical. The real challenge is finding a way to incrementally improve safety without completely starting over.
That’s the problem Visual Assist set out to alleviate.
Why Visual Assist added 60+ C++ safety checkers
When we talked to users—particularly those working in finance, defense, game development, or embedded systems—the story is the same:
“We know the risks, but we can’t just refactor everything overnight.”
– C++ developers
That feedback led us to expand Visual Assist’s code inspection capabilities in version 2025.4 with over 60 new Clang-Tidy-based C++ safety checkers. In the words of the lead developer, they “never had anything close to this many checkers in one release.”
These checkers are designed to help developers bridge the gap between today’s code and tomorrow’s standards—without halting development or overhauling your entire codebase.
They bring the latest safety guidelines and best practices directly into your editor, continuously reviewing your code as you work.
What the new safety checkers do
Think of the new checkers as having a seasoned C++ reviewer silently monitoring your code in real time. They analyze your code as you write, catching unsafe patterns early—before they slip into code review, before they ship to production, and before they become expensive problems.
Here’s what they look for:
- Memory Safety Violations
Detects use-after-free, uninitialized memory, dangling pointers, and other common causes of memory corruption. These are the types of issues that can stay dormant for months and surface only under specific runtime conditions.
- Type Safety Concerns
Flags unsafe casts, mismatched types, or implicit conversions that can lead to undefined behavior or data loss.
- Move Semantics Misuse
Identifies dangerous or incorrect use of std::move and related patterns that can result in resource leaks or invalid states.
- Performance and Modernization Opportunities
Recommends modern C++ best practices and performance optimizations—from redundant copies to outdated idioms—helping you write cleaner, faster, and more maintainable code.
- Correctness and Best Practices
Checks adherence to widely accepted rules from sources like the C++ Core Guidelines, promoting safer defaults and better code hygiene.
Some checkers simply warn you of risky patterns. Others offer quick-fix suggestions or automatic corrections, letting you apply safe changes in a single click.
How It Works: Continuous Review, Minimal Friction
Visual Assist integrates these checkers seamlessly into your development workflow. Once enabled, they operate quietly in the background, analyzing code as you type or navigate—no external setup required.
You can enable them through preset profiles:
- VA Default – Standard Visual Assist checkers
- C++ Safety – All 60+ safety-focused Clang-Tidy checks
- Combined (Recommended) – Both VA and Safety checkers, for maximum coverage
- Custom – Handpick specific checkers for your project
These profiles make it easy to adopt safety practices incrementally. Start small with the Combined or Safety profile, see how it fits your workflow, and refine from there.
Getting Started
The new C++ Safety Checkers are available now in Visual Assist 2025.4.
To start using them:
- Update to Visual Assist 2025.4 (or install the latest version).
- Go to VAssistX – Visual Assist Options – Code Inspections.
- Choose your preferred profile: C++ Safety or Combined (Recommended).
- Start coding—your new safety layer will handle the rest.
For a complete breakdown of each checker category and configuration details, see our full documentation in the Visual Assist 2025.4 Release Notes.
The Bottom Line
C++ isn’t going anywhere—but how we write it is changing.
The industry’s shift toward safer C++ is already underway, and developers who adapt early will be better positioned for that future.
With Visual Assist’s new C++ Safety Checkers, you don’t have to wait for the next language revision or safety profile to take action. You can start today—right inside your existing projects.
If you’re using Visual Studio for C++ development, it’s a no brainer. Get Visual Assist 2025.4 and utilize the vast array of nifty features and extensive code checkers to add safety without sacrificing speed.