Memory Thinking for C & C++ Linux Diagnostics: Slides with Descriptions Only

Table of Contents....4

Preface....16

About the Author....17

Introduction....18

Original Training Course Name....18

Prerequisites....19

Training Goals....20

Training Principles....21

Schedule....22

Training Idea....23

General C & C++ Aspects....24

What We Do Not Cover....26

Linux C & C++ Aspects....27

Why C & C++?....28

Which C & C++?....30

My History of C & C++....31

C and C++ Mastery Process....33

Thought Process....34

Philosophy of Pointers....35

Pointer....36

Pointer Dereference....37

Many to One....38

Many to One Dereference....39

Invalid Pointer....40

Invalid Pointer Dereference....41

Wild (Dangling) Pointer....42

Pointer to Pointer....43

Pointer to Pointer Dereference....44

Naming Pointers and Entities....45

Names as Pointer Content....46

Pointers as Entities....47

Memory and Pointers....48

Mental Exercise....49

Debugger Memory Layout....50

Memory Dereference Layout....51

Names as Addresses....52

Addresses and Entities....53

Addresses and Structures....54

Pointers to Structures....55

Arrays....56

Arrays and Pointers to Arrays....57

Strings and Pointers to Strings....58

Basic Types....59

ASCII Characters and Pointers....60

Bytes and Pointers....61

Wide Characters and Pointers....62

Integers....63

Little-Endian System....64

Short Integers....65

Long and Long Long Integers....66

Signed and Unsigned Integers....67

Fixed Size Integers....68

Booleans....69

Bytes....70

Size....71

Alignment....72

LP64....73

Nothing and Anything....74

Automatic Type Inference....75

Entity Conversion....76

Pointer Conversion (C-Style)....77

Numeric Promotion/Conversion....78

Numeric Conversion....79

Incompatible Types....80

Forcing....81

Structures, Classes, and Objects....83

Structures....84

Access Level....85

Classes and Objects....86

Structures and Classes....87

Pointer to Structure....88

Pointer to Structure Dereference....89

Many Pointers to One Structure....90

Many to One Dereference....91

Invalid Pointer to Structure....92

Invalid Pointer Dereference....93

Wild (Dangling) Pointer....94

Pointer to Pointer to Structure....95

Pointer to Pointer Dereference....96

Memory and Structures....97

Addresses and Structures....98

Structure Field Access....99

Pointers to Structures....100

Pointers to Structure Fields....101

Structure Inheritance....102

Structure Slicing....103

Inheritance Access Level....105

Structures and Classes II....106

Internal Structure Alignment....107

Static Structure Fields....108

Uniform Initialization....109

Old Initialization Ways....110

New Way {}....111

Uniform Structure Initialization....112

Static Field Initialization....113

Macros, Types, and Synonyms....114

Macros....115

Old Way....116

New Way....117

Memory Storage....118

Overview....119

Thread Stack Frames....120

Local Variable Value Lifecycle....121

Stack Allocation Pitfalls....123

Explicit Local Allocation....125

Dynamic Allocation (C-style)....126

Dynamic Allocation (C++)....127

Memory Operators....128

Memory Expressions....129

Local Pointers (Manual)....130

In-place Allocation....132

Source Code Organisation....133

Logical Layer (Translation Units)....134

Physical Layer (Source Files)....135

Inter-TU Sharing....136

Classic Static TU Isolation....137

Namespace TU Isolation....138

Declaration and Definition....139

TU Definition Conflicts....140

Fine-grained TU Scope Isolation....141

Conceptual Layer (Design)....142

Incomplete Types....143

References....144

Type& vs. Type*....145

Values....146

Value Categories....147

Constant Values....148

Constant Expressions....149

Functions....150

Pointers to Functions....151

Function Pointer Types....153

Reading Declarations....154

Structure Function Fields....155

Structure Methods....156

Structure Methods (Inlined)....157

Structure Methods (Inheritance)....158

Structure Virtual Methods....160

Structure Pure Virtual Methods....162

Structure as Interface....163

Function Structure....164

Structure Constructors....165

Structure Copy Constructor....166

Structure Copy Assignment....167

Structure Destructor....168

Structure Destructor Hierarchy....169

Structure Virtual Destructor....170

Destructor as a Method....171

Conversion Operators....172

Parameters by Value....174

Parameters by Pointer/Reference....175

Parameters by Ptr/Ref to Const....176

Possible Mistake....177

Function Overloading....178

Immutable Objects....179

Static Structure Functions....180

Lambdas....181

x64 CPU Registers....182

x64 Instructions and Registers....183

x64 Memory and Stack Addressing....184

x64 Memory Load Instructions....185

x64 Memory Store Instructions....186

x64 Flow Instructions....187

x64 Function Parameters....188

x64 Struct Function Parameters....189

A64 CPU Registers....190

A64 Instructions and Registers....191

A64 Memory and Stack Addressing....192

A64 Memory Load Instructions....193

A64 Memory Store Instructions....194

A64 Flow Instructions....195

A64 Function Parameters....196

A64 Struct Function Parameters....197

this....198

Function Objects vs. Lambdas....199

A64 Lambda Example....201

Captures and Closures....202

A64 Captures Example....204

Lambdas as Parameters....205

A64 Lambda Parameter Example....207

Lambda Parameter Optimization....208

A64 Optimization Example....210

Lambdas as Unnamed Functions....211

std::function Lambda Parameters....213

auto Lambda Parameters....215

Lambdas as Return Values....217

Virtual Function Call....219

VTBL Memory Layout....220

VPTR and Struct Memory Layout....221

Templates: A Planck-length Introduction....222

Why Templates?....223

Reusability....224

Types of Templates....226

Types of Template Parameters....227

Type Safety....229

Flexibility....231

Metafunctions....232

Iterators as Pointers....233

Containers....234

Iterators....235

Constant Iterators....236

Pointers as Iterators....237

Algorithms....238

Memory Ownership....239

Pointers as Owners....240

Problems with Pointer Owners....241

Smart Pointers....242

Basic Design....243

Unique Pointers....244

Descriptors as Unique Pointers....245

Shared Pointers....246

RAII....247

RAII Definition....248

RAII Advantages....249

File Descriptor RAII....250

Threads and Synchronization....251

Threads in C/C++....252

Threads in C++ Proper....253

Synchronization Problems....254

Synchronization Solution....255

Resources....256

C and C++....257

Training (Linux C and C++)....258

Solid C and C++ knowledge is a must to fully understand Linux diagnostic artifacts such as core memory dumps and do diagnostic, forensic, and root cause analysis beyond listing backtraces. This full-color reference book is a part of the Accelerated C & C++ for Linux Diagnostics training course organized by Software Diagnostics Services. The text contains slides, brief notes highlighting particular points, and replicated source code fragments that are easy to copy into your favorite IDE. The book's detailed Table of Contents makes the usual Index redundant. We hope this reference is helpful for the following audiences:

• C and C++ developers who want to deepen their knowledge
• Software engineers developing and maintaining products on Linux platforms
• Technical support, escalation, DevSecOps, cloud and site reliability engineers dealing with complex software issues
• Quality assurance engineers who test software on Linux platforms
• Security and vulnerability researchers, reverse engineers, malware and memory forensics analysts