Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to C Program Examples

400+ tested C programs, all 91 K&R solutions, free quizzes

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes.

1LC
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 · its alternatives →
2
My C compiler compiled itself▲275
One of the most challenging projects of my life :)
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
3
A simple garbage collector for C▲192
Simple, zero-dependency garbage collection for C. Contribute to mkirchner/gc development by creating an account on GitHub.
2019 · github.com · its alternatives →
4
I built a Cargo-like build tool for C/C++▲177
I love C and C++, but setting up projects can sometimes be a pain. Every time I wanted to start something new I'd spend the first hour writing CMakeLists.txt, figuring out find_package, copying boilerplate from my last project, and googling why my library isn't linking. By the time the project was actually set up I'd lost all momentum. So, I built Craft - a lightweight build and workflow tool for C and C++. Instead of writing CMake, your project configuration goes in a simple craft.toml: [project] name = "my_app" version = "0.1.0" language = "c" c_standard = 99 [build] type = "executable"…
Apr 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
5
A simple way to write standalone C programs for i386▲147
A simple way to write standalone C programs for i386 - luke8086/boot2c
2019 · github.com · its alternatives →
6GI
Going into freshman year, figured I should build an interpreter▲138
Hi all! I'm going into my freshman year, and figured that the best way to prepare for the intro to programming Racket course would be to implement my own garbage-collected, dynamically typed, functional programming language in C ;) Anyways... here's the repo: https://github.com/liam-ilan/crumb I started learning C over the summer, so I still have a whole lot to learn... Any feedback would be greatly appreciated! :D
2023 · its alternatives →
7
The C3 programming language (C alternative language)▲175
Get it from here: https://github.com/c3lang/c3c In 2019, while contributing to the C2 language, I started up "C3" as a pet project while waiting for pull requests to be approved... Now it's 6 years later and C3 well on its way to 1.0, having released 0.7.0 last week. Unlike other C alternatives, C3 tries to evolve C – but without concern to backwards compatibility to the latter. What it adds to C is among other things: - Module system - Semantic macros and compile time introspection - Lightweight generic modules - Zero overhead errors - Build-in slices and SIMD types -…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
8
A minimal C runtime for Linux i386 and x86_64 in 87 SLOC of C▲172
A minimal C runtime for Linux i386 & x86_64. Contribute to lpsantil/rt0 development by creating an account on GitHub.
2015 · github.com · its alternatives →
9
How to compile C/C++ for WASM, pure Clang, no libs, no framework▲217
A little help for programmers, who wants to run C/C++ code in the browser. (This is my second attempt to show it, first time I got banned bcoz of my personal page domain, I don't really understand it why is is suspicious.)
2022 · github.com · its alternatives →
10
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 →
11
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 →
12
A pure C89 implementation of Go channels, with blocking selects▲271
A pure C (-std=c89) implementation of Go channels, including blocking and non-blocking selects. - GitHub - rochus-keller/CspChan: A pure C (-std=c89) implementation of Go channels, including blocking and non-blocking selects.
2023 · github.com · its alternatives →
13CA
C3 – A C alternative that looks like C▲182
Compiler link: https://github.com/c3lang/c3c Docs: http://www.c3-lang.org This is my follow-up "Show HN" from roughly a year ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27876570). Since then the language design has evolved and the compiler has gotten much more solid. Assorted extra info: - The C3 name is a homage to the C2 language project (http://c2lang.org) which it was originally inspired by. - Although C3 mostly conforms to C syntax, the most obvious change is requiring `fn` in front of the functions. This is to simplify searching for…
2022 · its alternatives →
14
I wrote a minimal memory allocator in C▲137
A fun toy memory allocator (not thread safe, that's a future TODO). I also wanted to explain how I approached it, so I also wrote a tutorial blog post (~20 minute read) covering the code which you can find the link to in the README.
Nov 2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
15MP
My platforming game written in C 89▲127
I have been working on this game somewhat sparsely for the past three years or so. However, it is still in a very early stage, and there is a lot of work to do. One of my friends encouraged me to post about it here, since he felt people might find interesting how I don’t use any libraries for it. The game can be played on a browser by virtue of WebAssembly. There are native ports using either MiniFB or SDL2, but you have to build those yourself. I decided to write the game in C because I feel like it is a simple language that a lot of people can understand well enough, and I didn’t think I…
2023 · zamfofex.neocities.org · its alternatives →
16
Neco – Coroutine Library for C▲145
Concurrency library for C (coroutines). Contribute to tidwall/neco development by creating an account on GitHub.
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
17
Runc – Compile and run C in one command▲41
compile/run for the lazy. Contribute to alcover/lacy development by creating an account on GitHub.
2020 · github.com · its alternatives →
18
Bic – a C interpreter and API explorer▲181
A C interpreter and API explorer. Contribute to hexagonal-sun/bic development by creating an account on GitHub.
2019 · github.com · its alternatives →
19
C From Scratch – Learn safety-critical C with prove-first methodology▲72
Seven modules teaching C the way safety-critical systems are actually built: MATH → STRUCT → CODE → TEST. Each module answers one question: Does it exist? (Pulse), Is it normal? (Baseline), Is it regular? (Timing), Is it trending? (Drift), Which sensor to trust? (Consensus), How to handle overflow? (Pressure), What do we do about it? (Mode). Every module is closed (no dependencies), total (handles all inputs), deterministic, and O(1). 83 tests passing. Built this after 30 years in UNIX systems. Wanted something that teaches the rigour behind certified systems without requiring a decade of…
Jan 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
20
Compile C to Not Gates▲145
Hi! I've been working on the flipjump project, a programming language with 1 opcode: flip (invert) a bit, then jump (unconditionally). So a bit-flip followed by more bit-flips. It's effectively a bunch of NOT gates. This language, as poor as it sounds, is RICH. Today I completed my compiler from C to FlipJump. It takes C files, and compiles them into flipjump. I finished testing it all today, and it works! My key interest in this project is to stretch what we know of computing and to prove that anything can be done even with minimal power. I appreciate you reading my announcement, and be…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
21
A work-in-progress C compiler from scratch▲159
Programming language that compiles into a x86 ELF executable. - riicchhaarrd/ocean
2021 · github.com · its alternatives →
22
Xcc700: Self-hosting mini C compiler for ESP32 (Xtensa) in 700 lines▲154
Repo: https://github.com/valdanylchuk/xcc700 Hi Everyone! I just wrote my first compiler! - single pass, recursive descent, direct emission - generates REL ELF binaries, runnable using ESP-IDF elf_loader - very basic features only, just enough for self-hosting - treats the Xtensa CPU as a stack machine for simplicity, no register allocation / window usage - compilable on Mac, probably also Linux, can cross-compile for esp32 there - wrote for fun / cyberdeck project Sample output from esp32: xcc700.elf xcc700.c -o /d/cc.elf [ xcc700 ] BUILD COMPLETED >…
Dec 2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
23IB
I built a minimal Forth-like stack interpreter library in C▲47
This weekend I created stacklib.h - a single-header library that brings Forth-style stack operations to C. It implements a basic interpreter with: - Stack operations (push/pop/dup/swap/over/drop) - Arithmetic (+, -, *, /) - Output (., emit, cr) - Stack inspection (.s, depth) Example usage: Stack s; stack_init(&s); dict_init(); exec(&s, "10 20 + ."); // Prints "30" exec(&s, "1 2 3 4 .s"); // Shows stack contents The library is self-contained, requires no dependencies, and handles basic error checking. It was inspired by wanting to understand…
2025 · its alternatives →
24
C3 – A C alternative that looks like C▲120
Compiler for the C3 language. Contribute to c3lang/c3c development by creating an account on GitHub.
2021 · github.com · its alternatives →

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