I do a lot of programming, so I live in my editor. I use Vim. If you also use Vim then I've got something to share with you: a new syntax plugin that highlights function calls banned by Microsoft's Security Development Lifecycle (SDL). You can obtain the banned.vim syntax plugin from the Vim script archive.

The banned.vim syntax plugin will highlight C function calls that have been banned by the SDL. It adds functionality to the existing C and C++ Vim syntax plugins. Banned APIs, such as strcpy and others, will appear visually in Vim as if they were errors. It is my hope that this extra attention will cause you to reconsider using the banned API and replace it instead with a safer alternative. Although many of these banned function calls are Windows-specific, there are quite a few that are also available in UNIX and should be avoided. Details on the APIs banned by Microsoft's SDL can be found on Microsoft's site.

Here's a screen shot of banned.vim in action. In this case we're editing str_cat.c, one of the entries from the 2008 SANS Awards for Finding Coding Books with Secure programming Flaws. Notice the banned APIs in the code below?

Installing banned.vim is easy. First, you need to know what your runtimepath is, which varies from operating system to operating system. If you don't know what your runtimepath is, check the Vim documentation. Second, create the directory structure after/syntax in your runtimepath directory if it doesn't already exist. Third, copy banned.vim into runtimepath/after/syntax as both c.vim and cpp.vim. That's all there is to installation. There is no need to edit your .vimrc or anything.

I would like to thank Rob Mooney for suggesting this plugin in the first place.