Safety and OOP

As more and more software embraces object-oriented programming (OOP) safety-critical projects feel compelled to use object-orientation. But what are the guarantees of OOP in terms of safety? Are the design goals of OOP aligned with those of safe software systems? In this paper we look at key OOP aspects and analyze some of the hazards they introduce with respect to safety and outline a possible way of addressing these vulnerabilities. Specifically, after a quick overview of OOP we show some of the hazards of inheritance along with possible remedies. The core part of the paper focuses on dynamic binding and suggests a safer and more secure implementation than what is conventionally done. Finally, the last part of the presentation looks at testing programs with dynamic binding.