Dev tools · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to Optimizing compiler for a large subset of C, written in Rust

Hello. I wanted to share what I had been working on for the past couple of months or so. It's an optimizing C compiler for a large subset of the C programming language written in Rust. It's basically a Rust implementation of the C compiler from Nora Sandler's book[1]. It has been a great educational exercise and I wholeheartedly recommend it to everyone. [1]: https://nostarch.com/writing-c-compiler

This is an optimizing C compiler written in Rust that supports a large subset of the C language. It is designed for developers and students interested in compiler development and implementation. The compiler is based… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Optimizing compiler for a large subset of C, written in Rust launched in 2024; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

1
I'm making a dynamic language in Rust▲184
An implementation of a dynamic programming language in Rust. Includes: Parser/Compiler, REPL, Virtual Machine, Bytecode Disassembler This started out as a learning project to teach myself Rust. It has grown into a decently substantial piece of software and I've learned quite a bit in the process! Some neat things: + A garbage collector that can store dynamically sized types without any double-indirection (i.e. I have my own Box implementation with manual alloc/dealloc) + The smart pointer used to reference GCed data is a thin pointer. The ptr metadata needed for DSTs is stored in…
2022 · github.com · its alternatives →
2
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 →
3
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 →
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 →
5GI
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 →
6
My C compiler compiled itself▲275
One of the most challenging projects of my life :)
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
7
A Rust macro that parses Java-like syntax and runs it as a Rust program▲195
A Rust macro that parses Java-like syntax and runs it as a Rust program
2018 · gitlab.com · its alternatives →
8
Algorithm Cookbook in Rust▲320
Common data structures and algorithms in Rust. Contribute to EbTech/rust-algorithms development by creating an account on GitHub.
2017 · github.com · its alternatives →
9PA
Python at the Speed of Rust▲68
I’m sure many of you are familiar, but there’s a treacherous gap between finding (or building) a model that works in PyTorch, and getting that deployed into your application, especially in consumer-facing applications. I’ve been very interested in solving this problem with a great developer experience. Over time, I gradually realized that the highest-impact thing to have was a way to go from existing Python code to a self-contained native binary—in other words, a Python compiler. I was already pretty familiar with a successful attempt: when Apple introduced armv8 on the iPhone 5s, they…
2025 · blog.fxn.ai · its alternatives →
10
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 →
11
Han – A Korean programming language written in Rust▲208
A few weeks ago I saw a post about someone converting an entire C++ codebase to Rust using AI in under two weeks. That inspired me — if AI can rewrite a whole language stack that fast, I wanted to try building a programming language from scratch with AI assistance. I've also been noticing growing global interest in Korean language and culture, and I wondered: what would a programming language look like if every keyword was in Hangul (the Korean writing system)? Han is the result. It's a statically-typed language written in Rust with a full compiler pipeline (lexer → parser → AST →…
Mar 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
12
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 →
13
C-compiler to compile TCC for live-bootstrap▲67
Investigation into replacing the MES compiler. Contribute to FransFaase/MES-replacement development by creating an account on GitHub.
Dec 2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
14
My pl/0 compiler implemented in Rust (for college curruculum design)▲5
I've implemented a `pl/0 compiler` in `rust-lang` to fulfill the curriculum design for `Principles of Compiler Design` in my college (NUAA, China). Here's the GitHub repository url: https://github.com/DrEden33773/pl_0 As far as I know, `Rust` is not well adpated (even known) by college students around the world. So, this project is to prove that it's totally possible to design a complete & usable project in Rust for a beginner. This implementation has a complete error handling strategy, which means it could find as many errors as possible in one run, instead of being…
2023 · github.com · its alternatives →
15
Fork, a toy self-hosting language and compiler that compiles to C▲58
A simple, self hosted, low level programming language. - mcilloni/fork
2018 · github.com · its alternatives →
16
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 →
17
Cronexpr, a Rust library to parse and iter crontab expression▲160
`cronexpr` is a library to parse and drive the crontab expression.
2024 · docs.rs · its alternatives →
18
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 →
19
WIP C compiler in Go, inspired by 8cc▲60
Cross platform C preprocessor and compiler. Contribute to andrewchambers/cc development by creating an account on GitHub.
2015 · github.com · its alternatives →
20
Run – a CLI universal code runner I built while learning Rust▲96
Hi HN — I’m learning Rust and decided to build a universal CLI for running code in many languages. The tool, Run, aims to be a single, minimal dependency utility for: running one-off snippets (from CLI flags), running files, reading and executing piped stdin, and providing language-specific REPLs that you can switch between interactively. I designed it to support both interpreted languages (Python, JS, Ruby, etc.) and compiled languages (Rust, Go, C/C++). It detects languages from flags or file extensions, can compile temporary files for compiled languages, and exposes a unified REPL…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
21
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 →
22
Rust macro utility for batching expensive async operations▲28
rust macro util for batching expensive operations. Contribute to hackermondev/batched development by creating an account on GitHub.
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
23
Modifying Clang for a Safer, More Explicit C++▲76
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 →
24
Rust compiler in PHP emitting x86-64 executables▲66
Hi! I put together a Rust compiler written in PHP. It takes Rust source code and outputs x86-64 Linux binaries directly. No LLVM, no assembler, no linker. It has a working ownership checker, borrow checker, type checker, structs, functions, control flow, and mutable references. The test suite has 80+ cases. The whole thing is around 2,500 lines of PHP.
Mar 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

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