DARPA suggests turning old C code automatically into Rust – using AI, of course

DARPA unveils TRACTOR, a project aiming to convert legacy C code to Rust using AI to enhance memory safety and reduce vulnerabilities. Recognizing memory safety issues with C and C++, DARPA's approach indicates a consensus in the software engineering community towards using memory safe programming languages. The TRACTOR project aspires to leverage machine learning for translating C code to Rust more efficiently and effectively, tackling technical challenges such as pointer arithmetic prohibited in Rust.

• TRACTOR stands for TRanslating All C TO Rust
• AI models aim to automate C to Rust conversion
• Memory safety bugs are a major vulnerability in large codebases
• White House and CISA endorse memory safe languages
• Prossimo project aims to rewrite critical Internet code in Rust