Microsoft sets ambitious 2030 goal to eliminate C and C++ using AI-powered code translation

Microsoft wants to replace its entire C and C++ codebase

Microsoft wants to translate its codebase to Rust, and is hiring people to make it happen. "My goal is to eliminate every line of C and C++ from Microsoft by 2030," Microsoft distinguished engineer Galen Hunt wrote in a recent LinkedIn post. "Our strategy is to combine AI and Algorithms to rewrite Microsoft's largest codebases," he added. "Our North Star is '1 engineer, 1 month, 1 million lines of code.'" Hunt's post mentions a job ad for a Principal Software Engineer who will be expected to work on the tools Microsoft is building to pull this off. "The purpose of this ... role is to help us evolve and augment our infrastructure to enable translating Microsoft's largest C and C++ systems to Rust," Hunt wrote. Microsoft has already built some tools to make the move. "We've built a powerful code processing infrastructure," Hunt wrote. "Our algorithmic infrastructure creates a scalable graph over source code at scale. Our AI processing infrastructure then enables us to apply AI agents, guided by algorithms, to make code modifications at scale." Whoever gets the job will work within Microsoft's Future of Scalable Software Engineering group, a team Hunt says has a mission to "build capabilities to allow Microsoft and our customers to eliminate technical debt at scale." "We pioneer new tools and techniques with internal customers and partners, and then work with other product groups to deploy those capabilities at scale across Microsoft and across the industry," he wrote. Unlike C and C++, Rust is a memory-safe language, meaning it uses automated memory management to avoid out-of-bounds reads and writes, and use-after-free errors, as both offer attackers a chance to control devices. In recent years, governments have called for universal adoption of memory-safe languages - and especially Rust - to improve software security. Microsoft has also called for greater use of Rust. In 2022, the CTO of the company's Azure cloud called Rust to become the default language for new projects. Microsoft scientists have worked on a tool that automatically converts some C code to Rust. The software behemoth has also created tools to help developers write Windows drivers using Rust. Microsoft offers a vast array of products. The site MSportals.io lists over 500 active online portals for managing Microsoft products! The company also has a huge internal IT estate. The effort required to re-write all that must surely be beyond enormous. It will doubtless surface huge numbers of edge cases that automation can't address. If you're brave enough to want to make a contribution, the job Hunt mentions requires you to work three days a week in Microsoft's Redmond office and pays between $139,900 and $274,800 a year. ®

Microsoft working to slash use of C and C++ programming languages by 2030 - The Economic Times

The two languages currently play a major role in Microsoft's products. C is deeply embedded in the Windows kernel and many low-level system components, including the Win32 APIs, while C++ is widely used to build native Windows applications, according to Windows Latest, a Microsoft news updates website.A senior engineer at Microsoft has outlined a long-term research effort that looks at drastically reducing the company's use of the C and C++ programming languages by the year 2030. The two languages currently play a major role in Microsoft's products. C is deeply embedded in the Windows kernel and many low-level system components, including the Win32 APIs, while C++ is widely used to build native Windows applications, according to Windows Latest, a Microsoft news updates website. The plan came to light through a job listing shared by Galen Hunt, a Microsoft employee with nearly three decades at the company, who currently holds the title of Distinguished Engineer. In the listing, he confirmed that his team is hiring an "IC5 Principal Software Engineer". In the post, Hunt set out an ambitious vision for the future. He stated, "My goal is to eliminate every line of C and C++ from Microsoft by 2030. Our strategy is to combine AI and Algorithms to rewrite Microsoft's largest codebases." He also described what he called the team's "North Star": 1 engineer, 1 month, 1 million lines of code. By North Star, he meant the goal or benchmark guiding the team. According to Hunt, the team has already built powerful technical infrastructure to support this work. It includes systems that can analyse massive amounts of source code by creating large, scalable graphs that map how different parts of the code relate to each other. On top of this, AI tools are used, guided by algorithms, to understand and modify code at scale. Hunt added that this setup is already operating on real workloads, especially for code understanding. The Principal Software Engineer role is intended to help push this infrastructure further. One focus area mentioned was enabling the translation of Microsoft's biggest C and C++ systems into Rust, a newer programming language often praised for improved safety and reliability. Soon after, the post attracted widespread attention and discussion across the media and online forums. Hunt then issued a clarification. He said, "It appears my post generated far more attention than I intended... with a lot of speculative reading between the lines. Just to clarify... Windows is NOT being rewritten in Rust with AI." He stressed that the work being done by his team is a research project, aimed at building tools and technologies that could make language migration possible in the future. He added that the intention was to attract engineers interested in a long-term technical challenge, not to announce a new strategy for Windows or to suggest that Rust would be the final destination. This discussion comes at a time when Microsoft and other major technology companies are increasingly using AI in software development. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has previously said that up to 30% of the company's code is now written by AI, and that this likely includes parts of Windows. Other companies, such as Meta, have made similar statements. At the same time, concerns are growing about heavy dependence on large language models. Several companies have warned about reliability problems, noting that these systems can struggle when given too many instructions or when precision is critical. Companies such as Salesforce have flagged technical limitations, raising questions about whether AI-generated code can consistently meet the high standards required for complex, long-term software systems.