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Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

CA

24 alternatives to C3 – A C alternative that looks like C

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…

C3 is a programming language compiler that maintains C-like syntax while introducing design improvements. It requires the `fn` keyword before function definitions to simplify code navigation in editors. The language… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. C3 – A C alternative that looks like C launched in 2022; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

  1. 1

    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 →

  2. 2

    Compiler for the C3 language. Contribute to c3lang/c3c development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2021 · github.com · its alternatives →

  3. 3LC

    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 →

  4. 4

    Programming language that compiles into a x86 ELF executable. - riicchhaarrd/ocean

    2021 · github.com · its alternatives →

  5. 5GI

    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 →

  6. 6

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

    2018 · github.com · its alternatives →

  7. 7TC

    C3, "The C-like for people who like C" just reached v0.5, marking its feature-stable release: https://c3.handmade.network/blog/p/8824-say_hello_to_c3_0.5 Feature stability ensures that version 0.5 will undergo bug fixes and maintenance separately from the main branch, providing projects with a stable compiler version to work with. Try it out in the browser https://learn-c3.org Github: https://github.com/c3lang/c3c If you appreciate C, then maybe this is a language you'll enjoy. Dive into the documentation at https://c3-lang.org…

    2023 · its alternatives →

  8. 8

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

    2016 · github.com · its alternatives →

  9. 9

    a lightweight web framework in c. Contribute to ashtonjamesd/lavandula development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  10. 10

    Modified C++ Inspired by the paper "Some Were Meant for C" by Stephen Kell, I decided to show that it's possible to iterate C++ to be safer, more explicit, and less error-prone. Here's a possible starting point: I didn't invent a new language or compiler, but took the world's best compiler, clang, and modified it to begin iterating towards a new furture of C++. Naming things is hard, so I call this 'Modified C++'. Some of the following could be implemented as tooling in a linter or checker, but the idea is to update the compiler directly. I also wanted to learn more about clang. This…

    2022 · github.com · its alternatives →

  11. 11

    C to Go Assembly. Contribute to minio/c2goasm development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2017 · github.com · its alternatives →

  12. 12

    One of the most challenging projects of my life :)

    2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

  13. 13

    I set about coding my own version of the classic MS-DOS EDIT.COM for GNU/Linux systems four years ago and it this is where the project is at... still rough around the edges but works well with Termux! :) Demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7bneUX_kVA

    2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

  14. 14

    Learn the foundations to be a full stack software engineer. 100% free.

    2020 · c0d3.com · its alternatives →

  15. 15OC
  16. 16

    C compiler created in Python. Contribute to ShivamSarodia/ShivyC development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2018 · github.com · its alternatives →

  17. 17

    We’ve reached a major milestone in making any software run with WebAssembly. Thanks to the newest release of Wasmer (4.4) and the Wasmer JS SDK (0.8.0) ...

    2024 · wasmer.io · its alternatives →

  18. 18MP

    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 →

  19. 19

    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. 20

    2012 · github.com · its alternatives →

  21. 21

    Hi There, Erlang-RED has been my project for the last couple of months and I would love to get some feedback from the HN community. The idea is to take advantage of Erlangs message passing and low overhead processes to have true concurrency in Node-RED flows. Plus also to bring low-code visual flow-based programming to Erlang.

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  22. 22

    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 →

  23. 23

    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 →

  24. 24

    Learn one of the most powerful languages in the world! 👾

    2018 · codecademy.com · its alternatives →

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