Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to a practical Lisp in C

a custom Lisp in C. Contribute to codr7/alisp development by creating an account on GitHub.

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. a practical Lisp in C launched in 2021; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

1. 1
   A hackable custom Lisp in C▲5

   a custom Lisp in C. Contribute to codr7/alisp development by creating an account on GitHub.

   2021 · github.com · its alternatives →

2. 2
   A Custom Lisp in C▲15

   a custom Lisp in C. Contribute to codr7/alisp development by creating an account on GitHub.

   2021 · github.com · its alternatives →

3. 3
   Lisp in C#▲144

   a custom Lisp. Contribute to codr7/sharpl development by creating an account on GitHub.

   2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

4. 4
   My own C compiler (just for fun)▲175

   rcor C compiler (under development). Contribute to rcorcs/rcc development by creating an account on GitHub.

   2016 · github.com · its alternatives →

5. 5
   Compiler using Lisp’s macro system for metaprogramming C-like languages▲80

   Next-level syntax for C-like languages :). Contribute to kiselgra/c-mera development by creating an account on GitHub.

   2018 · github.com · its alternatives →

6. 6
   Lisp with copying GC in 537 lines of C (plus Lisp 1.5 on top)▲152

   Moved to Forgejo! Contribute to krig/LISP development by creating an account on GitHub.

   2018 · github.com · its alternatives →

7. 7CC
   C/C++ Development Environment for Emacs▲146

   2014 · tuhdo.github.io · its alternatives →

8. 8LW
   Lisp with GC in 436 Bytes▲513

   2021 · justine.lol · its alternatives →

9. 9
   Using Common Lisp from Inside the Browser▲111

   2025 · turtleware.eu · its alternatives →

10. 10
    A Lisp interpreter in C# 7▲30

    A Lisp interpreter in C# 7. Contribute to nukata/lisp-in-cs development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2018 · github.com · its alternatives →

11. 11FS
    Full Stack Lisp – A book in progress about writing Common Lisp apps▲338

    2016 · fullstacklisp.com · its alternatives →

12. 12
    A notebook-style Common Lisp environment▲180

    The notebook-style Common Lisp environment. Contribute to tamamu/darkmatter development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2017 · github.com · its alternatives →

13. 13
    Rust but Lisp▲218

    Rust but LISP. Contribute to ThatXliner/rust-but-lisp development by creating an account on GitHub.

    May 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

14. 14
    How to write a tiny compiler▲224

    Write your own compiler: introduction. Code genetation. AST. Abstract syntax tree. lisp. javascript.

    2017 · blog.klipse.tech · its alternatives →

15. 15IW
    I wrote a technical history book on Lisp▲252

    The book page links to a blog post that explains how I got about it (and has a link to sample content), but the TL&DR is that I could not find a lot of books that were on "our" history _and_ were larded with technical details. So I set about writing one, and some five years later I'm happy to share the result. I think it's one of the few "computer history" books that has tons of code, but correct me if I'm wrong (I wrote this both to tell a story and to learn :-)). My favorite languages are Smalltalk and Lisp, but as an Emacs user, I've been using the latter for much longer and for my…

    Feb 2026 · berksoft.ca · its alternatives →

16. 16IM
    I'm writing a leanpub book about Common Lisp web programming▲107

    2013 · lispwebtales.ppenev.com · its alternatives →

17. 17
    Interactive Common Lisp: An Enhanced REPL▲101

    I created this because sometimes I want more than rlwrap but less than emacs. icl aims to hit that middle sweet spot. It's a terminal application with context-aware auto-complete, an interactive object inspector, auto-indentation, syntax colouring, persistent history, and much more. It uses sly to communicate with the child lisp process and aims to be compatible with any sly-supporting implementation. I hope others find it useful!

    Dec 2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

18. 18
    Lisp implementation in modern Java, Go, C#, TypeScript, Python▲128

    A lisp rosetta stone to demonstrate modern language features - eatonphil/lisp-rosetta-stone

    2021 · github.com · its alternatives →

19. 19
    Build a Lisp in Swift▲38

    a custom Lisp REPL using Swifties. Contribute to codr7/swifties-repl development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2021 · github.com · its alternatives →

20. 20
    Restarts – The third way of handling errors▲7

    Lisp 2 Go. Contribute to codr7/g-fu development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2019 · github.com · its alternatives →

21. 21
    A Common Lisp implementation in development, supports ASDF▲96

    Implementation of the standard is still not complete, but breakpoints and stepping work quite well! It also has some support for watchpoints, that no implementation has. Now it ships with ASDF and is capable of loading systems! Let me know if you like it. Support on Patreon or Liberapay is much appreciated

    2025 · savannah.nongnu.org · its alternatives →

22. 22
    A Lisp compiler and environment in Go▲76

    The gsp compiler. Contribute to gsp-lang/gsp development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2015 · github.com · its alternatives →

23. 23
    Llr – a Clojure inspired Lisp that compiles to R in R▲63

    Lisp-like-R: A clojure inspired lisp that compiles to R in R - dirkschumacher/llr

    2021 · github.com · its alternatives →

24. 24
    GFun – Lisp 4 Go▲8

    Lisp 4 Go. Contribute to codr7/gfun development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2022 · github.com · its alternatives →

Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →