The Myth

MISRA C is just an Automotive Standard!

The Background

MISRA C originated within what was originally called the Motor Industry Software Reliability Association (or MISRA for short) – a grouping of the UK’s automotive industry – and the 1st Edition, published in 1998, was titled Guidelines for the use of the C language in vehicle-based software.

This is reinforced by MISRA C being cited by ISO 26262 Functional safety – Road vehicles.

Yes, it was created by the automotive industry, for the automotive industry… however, soon after publication, questions were being asked about other domain-specific variations, and 25 years later it is still a regular question at conferences.  Furthermore, in 2012, the very question was asked  on StackOverflow for the medical industry…. as my (accepted) answer to that question stated:

“I’d be interested to know why you feel MISRA would not be suitable?”

But the myth perpetuates…

The Reality

While MISRA C was created by the automotive industry, for the automotive industry, that was just the start…  Hence the second edition, published in 2004, was titled Guidelines for the use of the C language in critical systems.  The name change was not just a minor edit, it was a paradigm shift in thinking.

MISRA C has been adopted by many domains and industries, including being the basis for the JSF Air Vehicle Coding Standard and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Institutional Coding Standard for the C Programming Language amongst others.

Despite these, and all the other examples, the perception still exists.

MISRA C is proud of its automotive pedigree… but it is much, much, more than just an automotive coding standard.

Acknowledgements

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