Tech
Code Conversion from C to Rust with DARPA’s TRACTOR Project
DARPA’s TRACTOR Project accelerates software development processes by facilitating the code conversion from C language to Rust language. This innovative approach contributes to modern software engineering by enhancing security and performance.
US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) TRACTOR Project
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has introduced a code conversion tool named TRACTOR, developed to convert systems written in the old C language to the modern programming language Rust. TRACTOR stands for TRanslating All C TO Rust. This innovative project focuses on the development of artificial intelligence-based tools for the automatic translation of legacy C code to Rust.
The main aim of DARPA’s initiative is to eliminate security vulnerabilities arising from weaknesses in memory management in legacy C software. The program manager of TRACTOR, Dan Wallach, emphasized that while going to existing AI services to request the conversion of C code to Rust may seem like a reasonable solution at first glance, this approach may fall short in complex projects. In recent years, leading technology companies such as Google and Microsoft have been working to promote the use of modern languages that do not require manual memory management, beyond C and C++, to address memory safety issues.
The private sector’s efforts have also attracted the attention of the public sector, which has many legacy code bases. In this context, organizations such as the White House and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have started to promote the use of programming languages that offer safe memory management, such as Rust, C#, Go, Java, Python, and Swift.
Candidates Wanted for the TRACTOR Project
DARPA will organize an event on August 26, 2024, for companies planning to submit proposals for the TRACTOR project, which can be attended in person or remotely. However, candidates must register by August 19 to participate in this event. If the US can successfully implement this project, it is expected that the cybersecurity level in US public institutions, which are often targeted by hackers from Russia, China, and North Korea due to memory security vulnerabilities, will significantly increase.