A systems language with runtime reflection and no GC
Hi HN, I’ve been working on an experimental programming language called XXML. The project started from a frustration I kept running into across systems languages: Languages with strong ownership tend to avoid runtime reflection. Languages with rich reflection usually rely on GC or give up memory guarantees. Compile-time code generation often requires a separate macro language. I wanted to explore whether those tradeoffs are truly necessary. What XXML is trying to do XXML is a statically-typed, native language that: Uses explicit ownership and borrowing (no garbage collector) Supports runtime…
A systems language with runtime reflection and no GC launched on December 15, 2025 with 6 votes, #1,714 of 11,628 launches that month and more than 75% of that year's launches.
What it does
XXML is a compiled programming language with LLVM backend, explicit ownership semantics, and powerful generics.
A modern compiled language with explicit ownership semantics, powerful generics, and LLVM backend. Write safe, fast, and expressive code. #import Language::Core; #import Language::Collections; [ Class <Stack> <T Constrains None> Final Extends None [ Private <> Property <items> Types Collections::List<T>^; ] [ Public <> Constructor Parameters() -> { Set items = Collections::List@T::Constructor(); } Method <push> Returns None Parameters (Parameter <value> Types T^) Do { Run items.add(value); } Method <pop> Returns T^ Parameters () Do { Return items.removeLast(); } ] ] [ Entrypoint { Instantiate Stack<String>^ As <stack> = Stack@String::Constructor(); Run…from xxml-language.com
In the maker’s words, at launch
Hi HN, I’ve been working on an experimental programming language called XXML. The project started from a frustration I kept running into across systems languages: Languages with strong ownership tend to avoid runtime reflection. Languages with rich reflection usually rely on GC or give up memory guarantees.…
Does a similar job
all alternatives →
A dependently-typed programming language with static memory management2020 · github.com · ▲456A functional programming language with static memory management - vekatze/neut
Micro-mitten – Research language with compile-time memory management2020 · github.com · ▲236I've been working on implementing the compile-time approach to memory management described in this thesis (https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/techreports/UCAM-CL-TR-908.pdf) for some time now - some of the performance results look promising! (Although some less so...) I think it would be great to see this taken further and built into a more complete functional language.
Cassette, a Personal Programming Language2023 · cassette-lang.com · ▲231I made this simple language over the past year, and it's time for me to say it's "done" (for now) and focus on other projects. I've struggled to answer the question "what is this language for?" other than "it's just for me" — and that's probably good enough. But I also wanted to make something "complete" that others could use if they wanted to. Writing my own language was an incredibly rewarding experience, and I'd recommend everyone trying it. Let me know if you have any questions or feedback, and please share your own experience if you've also made a language.
I'm making a dynamic language in Rust2022 · github.com · ▲184An 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…
A compiler and VM for a simple language, in 150 lines of code2022 · gist.github.com · ▲200A complete compiler for a simple language (in less than 150 LoC) - 00_readme.md
Lisp with copying GC in 537 lines of C (plus Lisp 1.5 on top)2018 · github.com · ▲152Moved to Forgejo! Contribute to krig/LISP development by creating an account on GitHub.
More dev tools this month
the category →

open-source IDE for thoughtful software design. Contribute to devdotfast/whiteboard development by creating an account on GitHub.
Dev tools · 28d ago · github.com

Contribute to reladraw/reladraw development by creating an account on GitHub.
Dev tools · 26d ago · github.com
OpenBot▲362Grok Bot alternative: free, local, open-source, multiplayer
Dev tools · 23d ago · openbot.run
Talanoa▲346Hi HN, I’m a fullstack developer, and honestly, I’ve lost count of how many side projects I’ve worked on over the years. But one idea kept coming back to me: a different kind of email client. It first came to me in 2014: “What if we could handle emails more like conversations?” Every year, I’d revisit this concept in my “Build Notes.” Ten years later, no one had built exactly what I had in mind — so I finally decided to do it myself. That’s how Talanoa was born. I wanted something focused on people, not timelines. I was tired of marking messages as unread just to remember to reply later, or…
Dev tools · 21d ago · talanoa.email
CoreSpeed▲332One MCP for everything your agents need: apps, memory, tools
Dev tools · 28d ago · corespeed.io
Source: Show HN post ↗ · launch text quoted in part
Launched alongside, December 2025
the whole month →- GP
Life & fun · Dec 2025 · dosaygo-studio.github.io

Hi everyone! My name's Luke and I made the original Jmail here alongside Riley Walz. We had a ton of friends collaborate on building out more of the app suite last night in lieue of DOJ's "Epstein files" release. Please AMA!
Life & fun · Dec 2025 · jmail.world

PlanEat AI▲733AI turns your health goals into a 7-day menu & grocery list
AI · Dec 2025 · planeatai.com

Community, All the HN belong to you. This is an archive of hacker news that fits in your browser. When I made HN Made of Primes I realized I could probably do this offline sqlite/wasm thing with the whole GBs of archive. The whole dataset. So I tried it, and this is it. Have Hacker News on your device. Go to this repo (https://github.com/DOSAYGO-STUDIO/HackerBook): you can download it. Big Query -> ETL -> npx serve docs - that's it. 20 years of HN arguments and beauty, can be yours forever. So they'll never die. Ever. It's the unkillable static archive of HN and it's…
Dev tools · Dec 2025 · hackerbook.dosaygo.com
