C3 – A C alternative that looks like C

In plain words

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 evolves C semantics with modifications documented on its website. C3 is aimed at developers seeking a modern alternative to C that preserves familiar syntax conventions while offering a more solid compiler implementation.

written from the facts on this page · September 2026

From the sources

In the maker’s words, at launch

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.…

• 
  The C3 programming language (C alternative language)2025 · github.com · ▲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 -…

• 
  C3 – A C alternative that looks like C2021 · github.com · ▲120

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

• LC
  Learn C and its lower levels interactively, in the browser2019 · ▲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

• 
  A work-in-progress C compiler from scratch2021 · github.com · ▲159

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

• GI
  Going into freshman year, figured I should build an interpreter2023 · ▲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

• 
  Compiler using Lisp’s macro system for metaprogramming C-like languages2018 · github.com · ▲80

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

• 
  /dev/null▲468

  a social network for devs

  Dev tools · 2d ago · dev-null.sh

• 
  Whiteboard (YC W26) – an open-source IDE for thoughtful software design▲423

  open-source IDE for thoughtful software design. Contribute to devdotfast/whiteboard development by creating an account on GitHub.

  Dev tools · 27d ago · github.com

• 
  Reladraw – A diagram language where you decide where to place things▲411

  Contribute to reladraw/reladraw development by creating an account on GitHub.

  Dev tools · 25d ago · github.com

• 
  OpenBot▲362

  Grok Bot alternative: free, local, open-source, multiplayer

  Dev tools · 22d ago · openbot.run

• 
  Talanoa▲340

  Hi 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 · 20d ago · talanoa.email

• 
  CoreSpeed▲332

  One MCP for everything your agents need: apps, memory, tools

  Dev tools · 27d ago · corespeed.io

• 
  Locofy.ai▲720

  Hey there, I am Honey - Co-founder at Locofy. We, along with other makers, have been building Locofy.ai to help massively accelerate the builders - the designers, developers, product managers & founders, and we're excited to share it today with the HN Community. Locofy.ai simply converts designs into production-ready frontend code for web and mobile apps. It adapts to your preferred design tools, tech stack, and workflows with ease and lets you launch upto 4x faster, while letting designers design the way they want and giving high-quality responsive code that developers love. With this…

  Dev tools · 2022 · locofy.ai

• PO
  Porting OpenBSD Pledge() to Linux▲571

  Life & fun · 2022 · justine.lol

• 
  PocketBase – Open Source realtime backend in one file▲563

  Open Source realtime backend in 1 file. Contribute to pocketbase/pocketbase development by creating an account on GitHub.

  Dev tools · 2022 · github.com

• 
  ruttl▲552

  Visual & Design Feedback Tool that helps you review design, content and report bugs on websites, applications, PDFs and images.

  Dev tools · 2022 · ruttl.com

• 
  Pipes puzzle (a.k.a. Net) on a hexagonal grid▲537

  Hello, HN - I wanted to share this puzzle game I made during my vacation. I'm rather fond of the pipes puzzle where your goal is to restore a scrambled network of connections by rotating tiles. It's usually played on a grid of squares and this all started when I decided to make a programmatic solver for that kind of puzzle. Then I realized that with some minor changes the solver could generate new puzzle instances. I thought about what kind of puzzle to make and someone suggested a hexagonal grid. Adapting the generator wasn't too hard but then I had to create a way to play this variant. So…

  Life & fun · 2022 · hexapipes.vercel.app

• 
  Parsnip – Duolingo for Cooking▲536

  We're building Parsnip to create a "tech tree" of cooking skills that allows anyone to level up on the building blocks of cooking knowledge while tracking their progress over time. It took us a few iterations to figure out the right product; here's the story of our latest pivot: [https://parsnip.substack.com/p/a-new-hope] The goal is to create a personalized way to learn any recipe on the Internet, then use this as a springboard to help home cooks of all levels solve the problem of repeated meal planning in a 10x better way:…

  Work · 2022 · parsnip.ai