When MISRA-C was launched in 1998 it was the UK automotive coding guidelines for C in vehicles.  The original guidelines were an easy-to-read, 128 rules for writing C so that it was safer.  Now it is used worldwide in virtually every embedded field from aerospace to mining.  Many development tools support it and many compiler vendors have changed their library source  to be MISRA-C compliant! 

Like most first versions it was not perfect though.  For the last four years a core team of software engineers has been working with the SAE, JSAE, JAMA, ISO-C panels and many experts in the embedded and software engineering industry (not just the automotive industry) as well as the software tools industry, to produce the second version. 

Now, the second edition has arrived in the shape of "MISRA-C:2004".