I built an embeddable Unicode library with MISRA C conformance
Hello, everyone. I built Unicorn: an embeddable MISRA C:2012 implementation of essential Unicode Algorithms. Unicorn is designed to be fully customizable: you can select which Unicode algorithms and character properties are included or excluded from compilation. You can also exclude Unicode character blocks wholesale for scripts your application does not support. It's perfect for resource constrained devices like microcontrollers and IoT devices. About me: I quit my Big Corp job a few years back to pursue my passion for software development and this is one of my first commercial releases.
I built an embeddable Unicode library with MISRA C conformance launched on December 15, 2024 with 117 votes, #366 of 5,365 launches that month and more than 95% of that year's launches. The site was still online in September 2026, 1 year on.
In plain words
Unicorn is an embeddable Unicode library written in MISRA C:2012 for resource-constrained devices like microcontrollers and IoT applications. Developers can customize which Unicode algorithms, character properties, and script blocks to include during compilation, reducing memory footprint. The library implements essential Unicode algorithms while maintaining strict safety and reliability standards required for embedded systems.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
Unicorn is an embeddable implementation of common Unicode® algorithms. It is highly customizable and MISRA C:2012 compliant.
Unicorn is fully customizable. You can choose which Unicode algorithms and character properties to include or exclude. Learn more here . Unicorn does not require an FPU or 64-bit integers. It is written in C99 and only requires a few features from libc which are listed in the following table. Unicorn honors all Mandatory, most Required, and most Advisory rules defined by MISRA C:2012. Deviations are documented here . You are encouraged to audit Unicorn and verify its level of conformance is acceptable. All operations in Unicorn are atomic. That means either an operation occurs or nothing occurs at all. This guarantees errors, such as out-of-memory errors, never corrupt internal state. This…from railgunlabs.com
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