MISRA C++:2023

Dates Read: 02/01/2026 - 02/02/2026

Rating: 4/5

Compared to MISRA C, this PDF is a little denser, but it's also simpler to parse.

C++ already has a significant number of language features, so the increased depth makes sense, and the organization was a nice touch.

I enjoyed being reminded to avoid writing C++ code as if it were C. For example, avoiding C-style casts and, even better, avoiding dynamic memory allocation with new and delete whenever possible.

For me, that felt very restrictive, but at the same time it made sense. It helps protect you from introducing additional complexity through memory management.

What I appreciate most about this standard is that it's based on C++17. It's not the latest version of the language, but it still felt like a great improvement over C++11, giving us features like the standard filesystem library, structured bindings, and std::string_view.

I have to admit, one of the things I enjoy most about reading these standards is that I can configure clang-tidy and clang-format to help enforce them. Of course, depending on your industry, you may need to follow every rule. I mainly use these standards as the basis for my own coding guidelines in personal projects.