67fe64116358c598f9bb1625 Dreamstime Ekkasit919 107744852 2

MISRA C/C++: What, Why, and How

April 15, 2025

A quick discussion on why MISRA C is important to any C/C++ programmer.

William G. Wong

Andrew Banks

Related To:

Electronic Design

What you’ll learn:

What is MISRA C?
How does MISRA C work?
Why you want to use MISRA C.

You haven’t been using static analysis, though you should if you want better code.

One of the most notable static-analysis standards is MISRA C and MISRA C++. It came out of the auto industry, but it’s applicable to any type of software. MISRA is implemented in a number of C/C++ toolchains like those available from IAR and Green Hills Software.

In this episode, I talk with Andrew Banks, Technical Specialist at LDRA. LDRA’s MISRA C/C++ support is a central piece of its static-analysis tools that exceed the requirements of MISRA C/C++. MISRA C:2012 offered new guidelines; the latest MISRA C standard is MISRA C:2023. MISRA C++ is a separate standard, but it has the same approach to improving developer’s coding process.

If MISRA C/C++ are of interest, you might want to check out how MISRA-C 2012 compares with SPARK 2014.

About the Author

William 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:

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.

About the Author

Andrew Banks | Technical Specialist

Andrew Banks is a Technical Specialist at LDRA with more than 30 years' experience of high-integrity real-time/embedded software development. He is a Chartered Fellow of the British Computer Society. Andrew graduated from the University of Lancaster in 1989, and has spent most of his career within the aerospace, defence and automotive sectors.

He is committed to standards development - he has been involved with MISRA since 2007 and has been Chairman of the MISRA C Working Group since early 2013; he is the Chairman of the BSI "Software Testing" Working Group; and an active participant in other BSI, ISO, IET and SCSC work, including the recent revision of ISO 26262.