[Announce] January 14th 2020 - MUG Meeting

[craig at decafbad.net]

We meet at 6:30pm on the second Tuesday of each month at the
Farmington Community Library.

 Topics Include:

 Rust, a C/C++ Replacement?

 C started its evolution from B in 1971 by computing legend Dennis
Ritchie. Bjarne Stroustrup began C++ from C in 1979. These two
programming languages have dominated systems programming for the last
twenty years. However, C was created before the Intel's 8080 processor
(1974) on a PDP-7 18-bit CPU with up to 144kb of RAM, a tape drive for
external storage and "display" via a printer. This was before
Ethernet, TCP/IP, and the Internet (1983), before the beginnings of
Unicode (modern language/symbol representation - 1987), and before the
Morris Worm (the first widespread computer security incident in 1988).
The environments that created C/C++ are hardly recognizable by today's
standards. Furthermore, C and C++ have a questionable security track
record. Despite decades of focusing on secure coding and rigorous
standards, Microsoft estimates that 70% of its security
vulnerabilities are due to memory safety issues with C/C++. Concurrent
programming in C/C++ is also notoriously difficult. With these and
many other issues, are C and C++ still the best tools for the job?
Enter Rust, a systems programming language aiming to be a C/C++
replacement. Rust offers similar performance to C/C++ while also
providing memory safety, "fearless" concurrency, and modern language
conveniences. Join us for an introduction to Rust, "a language for the
next 40 years."

 James Small is a Principal Architect consulting for large public,
private, and government organizations. He helps clients develop and
implement technology strategy and roadmaps. With over 20 years in the
industry his experience also includes teaching networking and security
at Macomb Community College as well as presenting at a variety of
conferences and user groups. When he's not focused on fusing
infrastructure and development he enjoys running and spending time
with his wife and two boys. 


 Plus we'll have our regular features: Jobs Looking for People, People
Looking for Jobs, and much more! We'll also be meeting for dinner at
the Buddy's Pizza in Novi (44225 W 12 Mile Road, Novi, MI 48377) after
the meeting.