Purging Undefined Behavior and Intel Assumptions in a Legacy C++ Codebase

Online Workshops + Training Sessions Available through April-June 2026 from only £150 ($200) 14 Sessions Available on a range of topics. Student Rates available from only £45/$60! US and EU friendly session times. https://cpponline.uk/ --- Case Study - Purging Undefined Behavior and Intel Assumptions in a Legacy Codebase - Roth Michaels - C++Online 2026 For large C++ codebases, adding support for a new platform (e.g. Apple Silicon/ARM) can be a scary, expensive endeavor. One of the biggest causes for alarm is undefined behavior (UB), which is an unfortunate part of many legacy codebases; luckily there are tools to help. After a brief review of what undefined behavior (UB) is we will discuss what issues it can cause and why it should be avoided. We will look at a few real-life bugs caused by UB in our codebase and discuss a common type of UB in legacy codebases: ""it works on Intel"". We’ll discuss how eliminating undefined behavior from a cross platform codebase can reduce maintenance costs and make it less stressful to support new platforms for your codebase. Then, we’ll go over the specific cultural and tooling initiatives we used to eliminate undefined behavior in our C++ codebase, including how we used static analysis and clang sanitizers to identify and address issues. Slides: https://github.com/CppOnlineConferenc... --- Work at Hudson River Trading (HRT): https://tinyurl.com/safxfctf --- Roth Michaels Roth Michaels is a Principal Software Engineer at Native Instruments, an industry leader in real-time audio software for music production and broadcast/film post-production. In his current role at Native Instruments he works on the integration of three merged companies and their legacy C++ codebases. When he joined iZotope/Native Instruments, Roth was the lead library designer of a new internal cross-platform ""Glass"", part of which is now available as open-source. More recently in his former role as Mix/Master Software Architect, Roth helped develop the reference implementation to move iZotope's products to subscription and led the team that launched the company’s first SaaS offering for music producers. Roth studied music composition at Brandeis University and continued his studies in the Dartmouth Digital Musics program. Roth began his career in software development writing software for his own compositions, and the works of other composers and artists, and teaching MaxMSP to composers and musicians; both private instruction and designing university courses. Before joining iZotope and Native Instruments, he was working as a consultant for small startups working on mobile applications specializing in location services and Bluetooth. --- C++Online is the annual, online only conference for the entire C++ community. The conference is designed to provide a more accessible option for C++ developers who might find attending other international C++ conferences more difficult or financially restrictive, at a time of year where we traditionally see less in-person cpp conferences due to weather, holidays and other restrictions. The Online C++ Conference - https://cpponline.uk   / cpponline   https://x.com/cpponline https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?...   / cpponline   https://mastodon.social/@cpponline https://bsky.app/profile/cpponline.bs... --- Streamed & Edited by Digital Medium Ltd - online.digital-medium.co.uk --- C++Online - The Online C++ Conference organized by Shaved Yaks: https://shavedyaks.com/ & Digital Medium: https://events.digital-medium.co.uk --- #cpp #cplusplus #cpponline #cppprogramming #cplusplusprogramming #softwaredevelopment #softwareengineering #coding #code #computerscience #technology #technews #programming #programmer