6 ms·

Ask HN: Who is developing a programming language that compiles to C?

21 points by danielEM 3y ago

What is your programming language and it's status? Can you share a link to its code?

ofalkaed 3y ago
Not mine but one missing from your list, MinForth is a Forth which compiles to C. https://sourceforge.net/projects/minforth/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/minforth/
mdwalters 3y ago
My friend is making a programming language called ACPL[1] that used to be written in Python, and outputs Python code, but now, he's working on a C implementation called CACPL, which is written in C and outputs C code. [1]: https://github.com/rjmsg/ACPL https://github.com/rjmsg/ACPL
thesuperbigfrog 3y ago
Not my project, but Chicken Scheme is an awesome language that compiles to C: https://www.call-cc.org/ https://www.call-cc.org/ Source download: https://code.call-cc.org/ https://code.call-cc.org/
jhonsrid 3y ago
The language with a rude name sometimes known as 'BF' compiles trivially to C (from C), for instance: #include <stdio.h> int main() { int c; printf("#include <stdio.h>\nint main() {\nchar a[30000] = {0}; char *p = a;\n"); while((c = getc(stdin)) != EOF) { switch(c) { case '>': printf("++p;\n"); break; case '<': printf("--p;\n"); break; case '+': printf("++*p;\n"); break; case '-': printf("--*p;\n"); break; case '.': printf("putchar(*p);\n"); break; case ',': printf("*p = getchar();\n"); break; case '[': printf("while (*p) {\n"); break; case ']': printf("}\n"); break; } } printf("return 0;}\n"); return 0; } (Though sorry to any BF fans if I've missed something in the implementation) ;-)
- Exuma 3y ago
  Just say it… Brain Fuck Let its syllables echo through your body Let its phonetic oomph roll off your tongue
samuba 3y ago
V compiles to C https://vlang.io/ https://vlang.io/
mathverse 3y ago
Nim
stefanos82 3y ago
Nim, Crystal, Nelua...just search for "transpilers to C" and you will get lots of examples.
- maattdd 3y ago
  Crystal compiles to LLVM IR, not C
- danielEM 3y ago
  Thanks! Here is a list that I'm maintaining: https://github.com/dbohdan/compilers-targeting-c https://github.com/dbohdan/compilers-targeting-c I'm long time fan of programming languages that compiles to C hoping that one day will fall in love with one endlessly! :-)
ingigauti 3y ago
I'm creating a new language but it "compiles" to C# - plang.is
rnvannatta 3y ago
https://github.com/rnvannatta/vanity-scheme https://github.com/rnvannatta/vanity-scheme I am currently making a r7rs scheme derivative that compiles to C. The lofty goal is parallel fibers. It's in extreme early stages, and I don't expect anyone will use it other than me, but I already like it. The compiler has been self hosted for a few months now. It has a cool FFI that you can see in use in the demos folder. Working on adding header generation to the module system. While Chicken Scheme is cool, I don't think it'll be parallel, and not in the way I want it to be, and I am willing to make a lot of compromises Chicken isn't to get there. As mentioned, I am willing to settle with fibers for parallelism, and heavily eschewing side effects, making changes from r7rs to get there. For example, there will be no dynamic-wind provided and parameter objects will have different, thread friendlier, semantics. ---- My main reason for choosing C as a transpile is that it's easier to lean on gcc and C11 than it is to write my own codegen, and LLVM is too unstable for me to handle. I started writing this in June 2022, and since then LLVM has had 3 backwards compatibility breaking major release and millions of lines of code changed.
worthless-trash 3y ago
Not me personally, but gnucobol compiles to C ( https://gnucobol.sourceforge.io/ https://gnucobol.sourceforge.io/ )
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
JaDogg 3y ago
Hello, I'm working on Yaksha programming language. It has python like syntax and whole lisp subsystem as a macro preprocessor. Got bunch of builtin tools - syntax highlighting plugins etc. Main website: https://yakshalang.github.io/ https://yakshalang.github.io/ Try it online (with full x86 vm running in the browser): https://yaksha.pages.dev/ https://yaksha.pages.dev/ ------------ License is GPLv3 with few additional terms
nbenitezl 3y ago
Vala - https://vala.dev/ https://vala.dev/ compiles to C and is tailored to GNOME ecosystem.
gsuuon 3y ago
I have a toy language I play around with that's just in specifications stage. Not mine but an interesting compile-to-c language: https://github.com/koka-lang/koka https://github.com/koka-lang/koka. Functional, effects, no-GC.

21 points by danielEM 3y ago

What is your programming language and it's status? Can you share a link to its code?

Not mine but one missing from your list, MinForth is a Forth which compiles to C. https://sourceforge.net/projects/minforth/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/minforth/

mdwalters 3y ago

My friend is making a programming language called ACPL[1] that used to be written in Python, and outputs Python code, but now, he's working on a C implementation called CACPL, which is written in C and outputs C code. [1]: https://github.com/rjmsg/ACPL https://github.com/rjmsg/ACPL

thesuperbigfrog 3y ago

Not my project, but Chicken Scheme is an awesome language that compiles to C: https://www.call-cc.org/ https://www.call-cc.org/ Source download: https://code.call-cc.org/ https://code.call-cc.org/

jhonsrid 3y ago

The language with a rude name sometimes known as 'BF' compiles trivially to C (from C), for instance: #include <stdio.h> int main() { int c; printf("#include <stdio.h>\nint main() {\nchar a[30000] = {0}; char *p = a;\n"); while((c = getc(stdin)) != EOF) { switch(c) { case '>': printf("++p;\n"); break; case '<': printf("--p;\n"); break; case '+': printf("++*p;\n"); break; case '-': printf("--*p;\n"); break; case '.': printf("putchar(*p);\n"); break; case ',': printf("*p = getchar();\n"); break; case '[': printf("while (*p) {\n"); break; case ']': printf("}\n"); break; } } printf("return 0;}\n"); return 0; } (Though sorry to any BF fans if I've missed something in the implementation) ;-)

Exuma 3y ago
Just say it… Brain Fuck Let its syllables echo through your body Let its phonetic oomph roll off your tongue

samuba 3y ago

V compiles to C https://vlang.io/ https://vlang.io/

mathverse 3y ago

Nim

stefanos82 3y ago

Nim, Crystal, Nelua...just search for "transpilers to C" and you will get lots of examples.

maattdd 3y ago
Crystal compiles to LLVM IR, not C
danielEM 3y ago
Thanks! Here is a list that I'm maintaining: https://github.com/dbohdan/compilers-targeting-c https://github.com/dbohdan/compilers-targeting-c I'm long time fan of programming languages that compiles to C hoping that one day will fall in love with one endlessly! :-)

ingigauti 3y ago

I'm creating a new language but it "compiles" to C# - plang.is

rnvannatta 3y ago

https://github.com/rnvannatta/vanity-scheme https://github.com/rnvannatta/vanity-scheme I am currently making a r7rs scheme derivative that compiles to C. The lofty goal is parallel fibers. It's in extreme early stages, and I don't expect anyone will use it other than me, but I already like it. The compiler has been self hosted for a few months now. It has a cool FFI that you can see in use in the demos folder. Working on adding header generation to the module system. While Chicken Scheme is cool, I don't think it'll be parallel, and not in the way I want it to be, and I am willing to make a lot of compromises Chicken isn't to get there. As mentioned, I am willing to settle with fibers for parallelism, and heavily eschewing side effects, making changes from r7rs to get there. For example, there will be no dynamic-wind provided and parameter objects will have different, thread friendlier, semantics. ---- My main reason for choosing C as a transpile is that it's easier to lean on gcc and C11 than it is to write my own codegen, and LLVM is too unstable for me to handle. I started writing this in June 2022, and since then LLVM has had 3 backwards compatibility breaking major release and millions of lines of code changed.

worthless-trash 3y ago

Not me personally, but gnucobol compiles to C ( https://gnucobol.sourceforge.io/ https://gnucobol.sourceforge.io/ )

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

JaDogg 3y ago

Hello, I'm working on Yaksha programming language. It has python like syntax and whole lisp subsystem as a macro preprocessor. Got bunch of builtin tools - syntax highlighting plugins etc. Main website: https://yakshalang.github.io/ https://yakshalang.github.io/ Try it online (with full x86 vm running in the browser): https://yaksha.pages.dev/ https://yaksha.pages.dev/ ------------ License is GPLv3 with few additional terms

nbenitezl 3y ago

Vala - https://vala.dev/ https://vala.dev/ compiles to C and is tailored to GNOME ecosystem.

gsuuon 3y ago

I have a toy language I play around with that's just in specifications stage. Not mine but an interesting compile-to-c language: https://github.com/koka-lang/koka https://github.com/koka-lang/koka. Functional, effects, no-GC.