Cyclone retains C's syntax, types, and low-level control over data representations and memory management, while ensuring safety through a combination of compile-time analysis and link- and run-time checks. The combination of safety and C compatibility make Cyclone a good language for writing servers and other security-critical software.

In the talk I will give an overview of our design philosophy, give examples of safety violations in C programs, and show how we prevent them in Cyclone. I will also describe the status of the implementation, which is available at http://www.research.att.com/projects/cyclone/.

(Cyclone is a joint project of AT&T Labs Research and Greg Morrisett's research group at Cornell University.)