Mach – A compiled systems language looking for contributions
Hi HN, I'm the creator of Mach (https://github.com/octalide/mach or https://machlang.org). Two days ago, we finally achieved full self hosting. I wanted to make a post here to show off the language since this is a big milestone for us. ## TL;DR about the language for those curious: - There are no external dependencies anywhere in the pipeline. This includes LLVM, libc bindings, or anything of the sort (save for the historical bootstrap compiler, which requires any C compiler and has been phased out completely). - Mach is extremely opinionated and very…
In plain words
Mach is a compiled systems language that has achieved self-hosting with no external dependencies in its pipeline, including LLVM or libc bindings. Designed for developers who prioritize transparency, it emphasizes explicit code with no hidden behaviors, implicit conversions, or automatic features. The language aims for simplicity and clarity while targeting performance comparable to C, and is currently seeking contributors to further its development.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
In the maker’s words, at launch
Hi HN, I'm the creator of Mach (https://github.com/octalide/mach or https://machlang.org). Two days ago, we finally achieved full self hosting. I wanted to make a post here to show off the language since this is a big milestone for us. ## TL;DR about the language for those curious: - There are no external dependencies anywhere in the pipeline. This includes LLVM, libc bindings, or anything of the sort (save for the historical bootstrap compiler, which requires any C compiler and has been phased out completely). - Mach is extremely opinionated and very anti-magic. WYSIWYG is a core principal for the language. There are no hidden behaviors, implicit type conversions, or "automatic features". Simplicity and stripping away ambiguity are core principals that this language upholds. - Performance currently lags behind C by about a factor of only 4x at the time of writing, almost entirely due to the lack of deep compiler optimizations like autovectorization, which have not been fully implemented yet. Eventually, Mach will be at least on par with C. ## Why did I build this? I love low level systems languages like C, Zig, Go, and (sometimes) Rust, but I wanted something that actively discourages "cleverness" in favor of long-term maintainability and overall clarity. Mach is highly opinionated and explicitly demands verbosity in ways that other languages are afraid to. Computers aren't magic, and code you write should not pretend they are. This project initially started out as a learning opportunity for myself, but grew into a fully featured language as time went on. There is still a lot I have to learn, however, and I'm excited to be able to do so as this project continues to grow into the future. ## Why do I (the reader) care? If you like C, you'll probably like Mach. Mach takes heavy inspiration from the "vibe" of writing C, but improves on much of the syntax, lacks quite a few footguns, "unhides" a lot of internal mechanisms, and has a FAR better dependency management system. If you want to play around with a language that is fully capable of replacing C, and especially if you would like to contribute to its development, then PLEASE stop by and mess around. ## Where should I go to check it out? The github repository has a link to our discord if you'd like to chat with myself or our few other regular users. My personal account has all of the tooling that exists as well as a few example repos if you feel inclined to try it out. ## Will this project by dead in X months? I've been working on this in the background for over 2 years now. This is a long term project that I plan to maintain into the indefinite future, with or without a userbase. If you like the language at all, I highly encourage you to get involved in its development because it WILL be sticking around in some capacity forever. I know this was a bit "rambly", but let me just say that it's been a great joy to work on this project and I would love any and ALL opinions and contributions, ESPECIALLY if you hate the language or find a problem that needs fixing. Let me know what you guys think!
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