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Products that do what Built a tiny interpreter from scratch in C to understand how they work does

Hi HN, I'm the author. I built this project for two simple reasons: I've always used higher-level languages and wanted to finally understand what's happening "under the hood" of an interpreter. I also wanted a real project to force me to "power up" my C skills, especially with manual memory management and reference counting. The result is ToyForth, a minimal interpreter for a Forth-like language, written from scratch in C, stack-based. I focused on making the code clean and understandable. It's broken down into a few simple parts: A parser that turns source text into a list of objects…

1. 1WM
   Writing my first interpreter in C for fun▲109

   2016 · github.com

2. 2AW
   A work-in-progress C compiler from scratch▲159

   2021 · github.com

3. 3MO
   My own C compiler (just for fun)▲175

   2016 · github.com

4. 4HT
   How to write a tiny compiler▲224

   2017 · blog.klipse.tech

5. 5LC
   Learn C and its lower levels interactively, in the browser▲356

   I made a simple virtual machine that runs C in the browser.This project is made as an experiment to see if C can be learned easier if the lower level is covered in paralel. Sandbox: https://vasyop.github.io/miniC-hosting Tutorial part 1: https://vasyop.github.io/miniC-hosting/?0 More info: https://github.com/vasyop/miniC-hosting/blob/master/README.md Please support this project: https://github.com/vasyop/miniC-hosting/blob/master/support.md

   2019

6. 6SH
   ShivyC – Hobby C compiler created in Python▲120

   2018 · github.com

7. 7FA
   Fork, a toy self-hosting language and compiler that compiles to C▲58

   2018 · github.com

8. 8BA
   Bic – a C interpreter and API explorer▲181

   2019 · github.com

9. 9FA
   Fe – A tiny, embeddable language implemented in ANSI C▲143

   2020 · github.com

10. 10AS
    A simple way to write standalone C programs for i386▲147

    2019 · github.com

11. 11IR
    I rewrote few of the common core string.h functions▲9

    I rewrote the most common core string.h functions in pure C. I mostly did it to learn pointers and string. Would love to get any feedbacks:)

    2025 · github.com

12. 12IM
    I'm 17 and I created a Forth interpreter for the TI-84+ calculator▲56

    https://github.com/siraben/ti84-forth Hi HN! For the past year I've been getting into programming in Z80 assembly (especially for the TI-84+). More recently I've been learning about the Forth programming language and after a lot of searching online (in vain) for a Forth interpreter for the TI-84, I decided to write one myself. It's been fun demoing this to others, because it's a very unexpected use of a calculator. It's my largest project to date, and I'm interested to know what the HN community thinks, please feel free to critique my code! -- Ben

    2018

13. 13SP
    Smart pointers for the C programming language▲126

    2015 · github.com

14. 14AP
    A Python with Hindley-Milner-like type annotations, compiling to C▲134

    2015 · github.com

15. 15SH
    Self Hosting C Compiler▲5

    This is my hobby C compiler project. Decided to publish the code today, as it finally compiled itself. The readme on the linked GitHub page has a bit of information on how it works. I wrote the thing for fun, but if anyone gets a better understanding of the dark corners of C because of it, I am happy.

    2022 · github.com

16. 16GA
    Greg – a simple “cal” clone written in C▲60

    2020 · greg-calendar.vercel.app

17. 17BY
    Build your own programming language in C++▲94

    2021 · github.com

18. 18CU
    Compiler using Lisp’s macro system for metaprogramming C-like languages▲80

    2018 · github.com

19. 19AA
    Ape – an easy-to-embed programming language in two C files▲90

    2020 · github.com

20. 20CO
    Check out my new blog on software development.▲5

    First tutorial to date. Writing your first C program, includes a link at the bottom with a detailed look at printf() as optional reading. I would love some feedback, as I intend writing up a lot of dev articles for people to learn from : www.xanthu.com/first-c-program

    2013

21. 21AC
    A compiler for a small language into x86-64 assembly▲74

    2020 · github.com

22. 22LP
    Learning Project: building an imperative language▲36

    Hi! I am doing a learning project, attempting to build an imperative language (and interpreter). The end product will be useless for others, I just want to learn and better understand how to build imperative languages. :) If someone else shares this interest and want to give some good hints on good resources I would be grateful. Currently I am looking at an awesome text by Bob Nystrom. All suggestions and tips on resources are most welcome. I am very much a beginner in this, but I find this topic very fascinating. Mail me or post links here! Cheers! You can try a beta version Online at…

    2020

23. 23IW
    I wrote a scheme interpreter in C▲7

    2019 · rain-1.github.io

24. 24CF
    Compiler Fundamentals – Closure Conversion▲70

    2019 · gist.github.com

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