Defensive C++: Programming Guidelines for those who dislike Debugging

Citation

Swan J (2012) Defensive C++: Programming Guidelines for those who dislike Debugging. Computing Science and Mathematics; University of Stirling. CSM Technical Reports, CSM-194. University of Stirling, Department of Computing Science and Mathematics. http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/~jsw/C++%20Coding%20Guidelines%20-%20Stirling%20TR%20CSM-194.pdf

Abstract
C++ has a reputation as a difficult and complex language in which one can achieve anything, but with an attendant risk of (what is politely termed) 'undefined behavior' when practiced by the uninitiated. We offer guidelines that are intended to eliminate common causes of systemic and hidden error (e.g. ignorance of copy-assignment semantics) and also describe a number of practices that facilitate both design robustness and 'programming in the large'.