Electronic Design Weekly: Oct. 12, 2026 - Safe Software
In This Issue
- Editorial: What's All This Safe Software Stuff, Anyhow?
- Quick Polls: Static Analysis and Vibe Coding
- Featured Content
- New Products
- Focus on: Developing High-Quality Software
- Multimedia on ElectronicDesign
- Editor's Choice: From the ElectronicDesign Archives
- Editor's Weekly Picks
- Illustrated Engineering
- Electronic Design Word of the Week
- New in Electronic Design's Member Library
- More Electronic Design Weekly
Welcome to Electronic Design's weekly publication where you can find the latest articles, videos, and podcasts. Think of it as Electronic Design magazine where you can read about the latest technologies and products.
So much for the stock intro. This week we have a focus on write safe and reliable software. A good bit of the focus is on static analysis tools but there are a lot of topics like using Rust that are applicable to embedded development.
If you get a chance, fill in the ED Weekley Survey. We want to improve both the content and presentation to make it easier for you to experience.
Thanks.
- Bill Wong
Check back as we add more content is added every day. You can sign up for our daily newsletter to see the latest articles as they're posted. Check out the latest newsletters. You can also check out archived versions of Electronic Design Weekly.
Editorial: What's All This Safe Software Stuff, Anyhow?
Bob Pease was a staff scientist at National Semiconductor and wrote for Electronic Design for decades. His typical article was entitled “What’s All This Stuff, Anyhow?”, with “Stuff” being interchanged with the topic at hand. I figured this editorial might be a good way to honor him while touching on a topic I find very important especially in this age of vibe coding (take the vibe coding poll) and AI hysteria.
In any case, the focus this week is on creating safe and reliable software. The tools to make it happen are well-established. AI is being employed to streamline the development process and even generate code. Still, compilers, static-analysis tools, and certification processes remain, as it should even for applications that aren’t destined for a car, medical device, or aircraft.
The interesting aspect is that creating highly reliable software is also the way to create software that doesn’t have bugs. It should be the goal for any developer, especially these days when AI is used to craft attacks based on bugs in applications.
Click to continue reading the rest of the editorial.
id_104081315__andrey_sirant__dreamstimepromo
Static Analysis Quick Poll
Static analysis can help find bugs before a program runs. Are you using it?
Vibe Coding Quick Poll
Vibe coding may or may not address safety and high reliabliity software but AI is being employed more often these days. What do you think of it?
Focus on: Developing High-Quality Software
Our TechXchange by the same name includes content focusing on developing safe and secure software. There are a number of additional TechXchanges that you can examine that present information about topics like Rust and static analysis as well Ada/SPARK contracts and certifying software.
id_104081315__andrey_sirant__dreamstimepromo
High-Quality Software
promo_id_38307812__cammeraydave__dreamstime
Globe and video wallEditor's Choice: From the ElectronicDesign Archives
These articles were chosen by the editors at ElectronicDesign that complement the new articles above. They’re included in our regular newsletters.
dreamstime_kittipongjirasukhanont_269629122
Certification Dreamstime M 133915427
Programmer contemplating code
Programming Promo
Bill Wong's Picks of the Week
Here are a few websites that might prove useful in reducing the number of bugs in your code. Combine with the static analysis tools mentioned above and you are on your way to producing safe and reliable applications.
Safety and Security Bug on the Internet
| Website | What It Provides |
|---|---|
| CWE | Common software and hardware weaknesses, root causes, and prevention guidance. |
| CVE | Publicly identified security vulnerabilities with unique CVE IDs. |
| NVD | Vulnerability details, severity scores, affected products, and references. |
| OWASP | Web application security risks, coding flaws, and mitigation techniques. |
| CAPEC | Common attack patterns and techniques used to exploit weaknesses. |
| CERT Secure Coding | Secure coding rules, programming errors, and vulnerability prevention. |
| GitHub Security Advisories | Security vulnerabilities and fixes for open-source packages and dependencies. |
| OSV | Open-source vulnerability records mapped to affected software versions and commits. |
New in Electronic Design's Member Library
Are you an Electronic Design member? It’s free and you get access to content like our latest eBooks and editorial webinars. You can also provide feedback about articles.
dreamstime_sergej57_73433375
Reading library book
EDW PromoAbout the Author
William G. WongWilliam G. Wong
Senior Content Director - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF
I am Editor of Electronic Design focusing on embedded, software, and systems. As Senior Content Director, I also manage Microwaves & RF and I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, programmers, developers and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.
You can send press releases for new products for possible coverage on the website. I am also interested in receiving contributed articles for publishing on our website. Use our template and send to me along with a signed release form.
Check out my blog, AltEmbedded on Electronic Design, as well as his latest articles on this site that are listed below.
You can visit my social media via these links:
- AltEmbedded on Electronic Design
- Bill Wong on Facebook
- @AltEmbedded on Twitter
- Bill Wong on LinkedIn
I earned a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters in Computer Science from Rutgers University. I still do a bit of programming using everything from C and C++ to Rust and Ada/SPARK. I do a bit of PHP programming for Drupal websites. I have posted a few Drupal modules.
I still get a hand on software and electronic hardware. Some of this can be found on our Kit Close-Up video series. You can also see me on many of our TechXchange Talk videos. I am interested in a range of projects from robotics to artificial intelligence.
Roger Engelke Jr.Roger Engelke Jr.
Managing Editor - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF
Roger manages the websites and print issues for Electronic Design and Microwaves &RF.
Cabe AtwellCabe Atwell
Technology Editor, Electronic Design
Cabe is a Technology Editor for Electronic Design.
Engineer, Machinist, Cartoonist, Maker, Writer. A graduate Electrical Engineer actively plying his expertise in the industry and at his company, Gunhead. When not designing/building, he creates a steady torrent of projects and content in the media world. Many of his projects and articles are online at element14 & SolidSmack, industry-focused work at EETimes & EDN, and offbeat articles at Make Magazine. Currently, you can find him hosting webinars and contributing to Electronic Design and Machine Design.
Cabe is an electrical engineer, design consultant and author with 25 years’ experience. His most recent book is “Essential 555 IC: Design, Configure, and Create Clever Circuits”
Cabe writes the Engineering Life & Engineering on Friday blog on Electronic Design.
See Cabe's cartoons & comic strips here.
James MorraJames Morra
Senior Editor
James Morra is the senior editor for Electronic Design, covering the semiconductor industry and new technology trends, with a focus on power electronics and power management. He also reports on the business behind electrical engineering, including the electronics supply chain. He joined Electronic Design in 2015 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.
Andy TurudicAndy Turudic
Technology Editor, Electronic Design
Andy Turudic is a Technology Editor for Electronic Design Magazine, primarily covering Analog and Mixed-Signal circuits and devices and also is Editor of ED's bi-weekly Automotive Electronics newsletter.
He holds a Bachelor's in EE from the University of Windsor (Ontario Canada) and has been involved in electronics, semiconductors, and gearhead stuff, for a bit over a half century. Andy also enjoys teaching his engineerlings at Portland Community College as a part-time professor in their EET program.
"AndyT" brings his multidisciplinary engineering experience from companies that include National Semiconductor (now Texas Instruments), Altera (Intel), Agere, Zarlink, TriQuint,(now Qorvo), SW Bell (managing a research team at Bellcore, Bell Labs and Rockwell Science Center), Bell-Northern Research, and Northern Telecom.
After hours, when he's not working on the latest invention to add to his portfolio of 16 issued US patents, or on his DARPA Challenge drone entry, he's lending advice and experience to the electric vehicle conversion community from his mountain lair in the Pacific Northwet[sic].
AndyT's engineering blog, "Nonlinearities," publishes the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month. Andy's OpEd may appear at other times, with fair warning given by the Vu meter pic. His cartoon series, "Inventors", appears each week in Electronic Design Weekly.
Comment About the Article
To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of Electronic Design, create an account today!
Leaders LogoLeaders relevant to this article: