Hacker News with Generative AI: C

Abusing C to implement JSON parsing with struct methods (xnacly.me)
Build a JSON parser in cInstead of using by itself functions: attach functions to a struct and use these as methodsmake it C issue family free (segfaults, leaks, stack overflows, etc…)provide an ergonomic API
C, JSON, Programming, Software Engineering, Struct
118 points by ingve 5 days ago | 70 comments
Imposing memory security in C [video] (fosdem.org)
They say that Rust is going to replace C. I don't believe that and I wanna share how we're doing memory-safe operations in BIRD's C code with no need to enforce this by the language paradigm. It's obviously possible to override that, yet with the right policies and processes in place, it is almost impossible.
C, Memory Security, Programming Languages, Software Development
63 points by transpute 8 days ago | 99 comments
Standard proposal for memory-Safety in C (2024) [pdf] (open-std.org)
Programming Languages, C, Memory Safety, Standardization
4 points by todsacerdoti 9 days ago | 0 comments
Zlib-Rs Is Not Only Safer but Now Outperforming Zlib C Implementations (phoronix.com)
Zlib-rs as a Rust programming language implementation of the Zlib file format for better safety is now beginning to outperform the C implementations of the widely-used Zlib.
Rust, Compression, Performance, Software, C
63 points by mrpotato 10 days ago | 17 comments
Ask HN: A retrofitted C dialect? (ycombinator.com)
Hi I'm Anqur, a senior software engineer with different backgrounds where development in C was often an important part of my work. E.g.<p>1) Game: A Chinese/Vietnam game with C/C++ for making server/client, Lua for scripting [1]. 2) Embedded systems: Switch/router with network stack all written in C [2]. 3) (Networked) file system: Ceph FS client, which is a kernel module.
Programming Languages, C, Software Engineering
55 points by anqurvanillapy 13 days ago | 77 comments
Julia: C codegen considered unnecessary: go directly to binary, do not pass C (arxiv.org)
Since time immemorial an old adage has always seemed to ring true: you cannot use a high-level productive programming language like Python or R for real-time control and embedded-systems programming, you must rewrite your program in C.
Programming Languages, Julia, C, Real-time Systems
4 points by hackandthink 16 days ago | 1 comments
F8 – an 8 bit architecture designed for C and memory efficiency [video] (fosdem.org)
Even in modern devices, 8-bit processors are found, but the architectures used are often not well-suited to programming in high-level languages, such as C. E.g. MCS-51 (8051, 8052) based microcontrollers in the Realtek WiFi chipsets. The f8 is an architecture based on the experience and lessons learned from maintaining Small Device C Compiler (SDCC) and the many 8-bit architectures it supports.
Hardware, Programming, C, Microcontrollers, 8-bit Architecture
79 points by mpweiher 17 days ago | 49 comments
Type safe variadic printf (stranger.systems)
While C can provide "convenient" string formatting by having hideously unsafe variadics, and dynamic languages, like python, can do the same, many type safe languages, such as Rust, are forced to provide such functionality through the use of a macro. Dependently typed languages, like Idris, can provide a printf like formatting interface, while maintaining both memory and type safety, without the need for macros. We will explore this by implementing a simplified version of printf in Idris from scratch.
Programming, Idris, Type Safety, Function Programming, C
20 points by todsacerdoti 20 days ago | 5 comments
Zig; what I think after months of using it (strongly-typed-thoughts.net)
Ah, Zig. I have a love-hate relationship with this one. A “new” (reading: appeared a couple years ago, already — yes, already), language with high ambitions. Zig was made to run at low-level, with a simple design to solve many problems C has (macros, allocators, error handling, more powerful types like baked-in tagged unions and bitsets, a better build system, no hidden control flow, etc.).
Programming Languages, Software Development, C, Zig
197 points by uaksom 30 days ago | 175 comments
No-Panic Rust: A Nice Technique for Systems Programming (reverberate.org)
Can Rust replace C? This is a question that has been on my mind for many years, as I created and now am tech lead for upb, a C library for Protocol Buffers. There is an understandable push to bring memory safety to all parts of the software stack, and this would suggest a port of upb to Rust.
Rust, Systems Programming, Programming Languages, C
204 points by chmaynard 31 days ago | 138 comments
I Wrote a WebAssembly VM in C (irreducible.io)
For the last 6 months, I’ve been spending my (limited) free time on evenings and weekends writing a WebAssembly VM in C.
WebAssembly, Programming, C, Virtual Machines
331 points by irreducible 32 days ago | 94 comments
C is not suited to SIMD (2019) (vmchale.com)
C (C++) is used to write performant software, however it is ill-suited to SIMD. In particular, its compilation of stepped reduction with lexical scoping opposes parallel execution.
C, Programming Languages, Performance, SIMD
89 points by zetalyrae 42 days ago | 120 comments
C stdlib isn't threadsafe and even safe Rust didn't save us (edgedb.com)
We’re in the process of porting a significant portion of the network I/O code in EdgeDB from Python to Rust, and we’ve been learning a lot of very interesting lessons in the process.
Programming Languages, Rust, C, Networking
327 points by msully4321 43 days ago | 362 comments
A Minimalist TypeScript for C (ycombinator.com)
A Minimalist TypeScript for C. Cp1, or C+1, or C plus 1 programming language adds only the bare essentials to C language that allows you to output C codes and able to use namespaces, modules, methods on enums/structs, auto variable deduction and more.
Programming Languages, C, TypeScript
44 points by GLC-ninja 45 days ago | 16 comments
I wrote a commercial game in C in 2025 (cowleyforniastudios.com)
For the last few years we’ve been working on a train management game, Iron Roads, which we released to Early Access today. Somewhat atypically for a game releasing in 2025, Iron Roads is written in pure C, not C++, pure C99. As a choice it has had its ups and downs, which I wanted to share in this post.
Game Development, Programming Languages, C, Indie Games
50 points by steeleduncan 46 days ago | 19 comments
An effect system proposal for C2y (open-std.org)
In this discussion proposal we suggest that C would be improved by extending the core type system into a type and effect system, that forces functions and blocks to declare which classes of effects will result from their evaluation.
Programming Languages, C, Type Systems
18 points by pjmlp 47 days ago | 6 comments
Agon Light C Development (ncot.uk)
How to write code for the Agon Light (and Console8) using C instead of BASIC, under Linux. It might work with WSL2 in Windows, and it might work on a Mac.
Programming, Linux, C, Agon Light
11 points by AlexeyBrin 48 days ago | 1 comments
Reading files the hard way – Part 1 (Node.js, C, rust, strace) (fasterthanli.me)
Everybody knows how to use files. You just open up File Explorer, the Finder, or a File Manager, and bam - it's chock-full of files. There's folders and files as far as the eye can see. It's a genuine filapalooza. I have never once heard someone complain there were not enough files on their computer.
Programming, Operating Systems, Node.js, C, Rust
4 points by airhangerf15 48 days ago | 0 comments
Understanding Memory Management, Part 1: C (educatedguesswork.org)
I've been writing a lot of Rust recently, and as anyone who has learned Rust can tell you, a huge part of the process of learning Rust is learning to work within its restrictive memory model, which forbids many operations that would be perfectly legal in either a systems programming language like C/C++ or a more dynamic language like Python or JavaScript. That got me thinking about what was really happening and what invariants Rust was trying to enforce.
Programming, Memory Management, C, Rust
236 points by ekr____ 53 days ago | 92 comments
Obvious things C should do (digitalmars.com)
Standard C undergoes regular improvements, now at C23. But there are baffling things that have not been fixed at all. The Dlang community embedded a C compiler in the D programming language compiler so it could compile C. This C compiler (aka ImportC) was built from scratch. It provided the opportunity to use modern compiler technology to fix those shortcomings. Why doesn’t Standard C fix them?
Programming Languages, C, Compiler Design
257 points by LorenDB 54 days ago | 300 comments
C: Simple Defer, Ready to Use (wordpress.com)
With this post I will concentrate on the here and now: how to use C’s future lifesaving defer feature with existing tools and compilers.
C, Programming, Defer Statement, Compiler Tools
175 points by ingve 59 days ago | 152 comments
Ask HN: Why do/don't you use C? (ycombinator.com)
I've been having a blast writing projects in C lately (emulator, raycaster) and using it extensively for a game engine I'm making.
Programming, C, Game Development
16 points by purple-leafy 60 days ago | 35 comments
Writing a simple pool allocator in C (8dcc.github.io)
I found out about pool allocators some time ago, and I really liked its simplicity and high performance, so I decided to write my own. This article was initially inspired by Dmitry Soshnikov’s article.
Programming, C, Memory Management
307 points by 8dcc 60 days ago | 143 comments
Boffins carve up C so code can be converted to Rust (theregister.com)
Computer scientists affiliated with France's Inria and Microsoft have devised a way to automatically turn a subset of C code into safe Rust code, in an effort to meet the growing demand for memory safety.
Programming Languages, Rust, C, Security
6 points by isaacfrond 62 days ago | 0 comments
Syzygy: Dual Code-Test C to Rust Translation Using LLMs and Dynamic Analysis (arxiv.org)
Despite extensive usage in high-performance, low-level systems programming applications, C is susceptible to vulnerabilities due to manual memory management and unsafe pointer operations.
Rust, C, Programming Languages, Software Security, AI
7 points by belter 66 days ago | 2 comments
Write a Shell in C (2015) (brennan.io)
It’s easy to view yourself as “not a real programmer.” There are programs out there that everyone uses, and it’s easy to put their developers on a pedestal. Although developing large software projects isn’t easy, many times the basic idea of that software is quite simple. Implementing it yourself is a fun way to show that you have what it takes to be a real programmer.
Programming, C, Tutorials
205 points by sebg 70 days ago | 16 comments
Train a Mnist VAE with C and CUDA (github.com/ggerganov)
Hi, I just want to share what I have been working on recently. This is an example of training a MNIST VAE. The goal is to use only ggml pipeline and its implementation of ADAM optimizer.
Machine Learning, Programming, C, CUDA, Generative AI
54 points by bssrdf 75 days ago | 2 comments
Compiling C to Safe Rust, Formalized (arxiv.org)
The popularity of the Rust language continues to explode; yet, many critical codebases remain authored in C, and cannot be realistically rewritten by hand. Automatically translating C to Rust is thus an appealing course of action.
Rust, C, Programming Languages, Software Development, Formal Verification
291 points by love2read 76 days ago | 157 comments
Fixing C Strings (thasso.xyz)
It’s well-known that null-terminated C strings are bug-prone and unsafe to use. They’re the stereotypical footgun. I’ve been tinkering in a bare-metal environment recently, writing all code myself, including the common types and routines you find in libc or similar. In all the code I wrote, there is not at single null-terminated string, and I have yet to encounter a bug related to bounds checking on strings or buffers.
Programming, C, Security
32 points by ushakov 80 days ago | 65 comments
Show HN: Non-backtracking, Unicode aware regular expression library in C89 (github.com/mnurzia)
Compact, non-backtracking, unicode aware regular expressions in C89
Software, Programming Languages, Regular Expressions, C, Unicode
7 points by mnurzia 81 days ago | 3 comments