Project 15: Complete Secure Coding Toolkit

A unified secure coding library combining all previous projects—safe strings, safe integers, safe memory, input validation, and security utilities—with comprehensive documentation.

Quick Reference

Attribute Value
Primary Language C
Alternative Languages Companion tools in Python
Difficulty Level 4: Expert
Time Estimate 4-6 weeks
Knowledge Area Complete Security Library
Tooling All previous projects
Prerequisites All previous projects

What You Will Build

A unified secure coding library combining all previous projects—safe strings, safe integers, safe memory, input validation, and security utilities—with comprehensive documentation.

Why It Matters

This project builds core skills that appear repeatedly in real-world systems and tooling.

Core Challenges

  • API consistency → maps to naming, error handling uniformity
  • Documentation → maps to making it usable by others
  • Testing → maps to comprehensive test coverage
  • Performance → maps to overhead measurement

Key Concepts

  • Map the project to core concepts before you code.

Real-World Outcome

libsecurec/
├── include/
│   ├── securec.h              # Master header
│   ├── securec/string.h       # Safe string functions
│   ├── securec/memory.h       # Safe allocation
│   ├── securec/integer.h      # Safe arithmetic
│   ├── securec/validate.h     # Input validation
│   └── securec/crypto.h       # Secure memory clearing
├── src/
│   ├── string.c
│   ├── memory.c
│   ├── integer.c
│   ├── validate.c
│   └── crypto.c
├── tests/
│   ├── test_string.c
│   ├── test_memory.c
│   └── ...
├── docs/
│   ├── API.md
│   ├── SECURITY.md
│   └── EXAMPLES.md
├── examples/
│   ├── secure_server.c
│   └── config_parser.c
├── Makefile
└── README.md

Implementation Guide

  1. Reproduce the simplest happy-path scenario.
  2. Build the smallest working version of the core feature.
  3. Add input validation and error handling.
  4. Add instrumentation/logging to confirm behavior.
  5. Refactor into clean modules with tests.

Milestones

  • Milestone 1: Minimal working program that runs end-to-end.
  • Milestone 2: Correct outputs for typical inputs.
  • Milestone 3: Robust handling of edge cases.
  • Milestone 4: Clean structure and documented usage.

Validation Checklist

  • Output matches the real-world outcome example
  • Handles invalid inputs safely
  • Provides clear errors and exit codes
  • Repeatable results across runs

References

  • Main guide: LEARN_SECURE_C_AND_EXPLOIT_AWARENESS.md
  • All previous books