Show HN: Tight C, a systems language with 10 keywords

Tight-C Simplest possible, usable systems language Tight-C is a minimal systems programming language that compiles to C. It has 10 keywords, no garbage collector, no inference, no OOP — just explicit, predictable code with C-level power. Features 10 keywords — if, loop, break, defer, ret, struct, fn, use, pub, pin No hidden magic — no GC, no type inference, no shadowing, no aliasing Raw pointers (->) and fat pointers (=>) with built-in slicing Manual memory — alloc() / free() with defer for cleanup Packed structs — no padding, predictable layout C FFI — extern "C" for direct interop Compiles to C11 — readable output, use any C toolchain Quick Start # Build the compiler make # Compile stdlib./tcc stdlib/io.tc -o stdlib/io.h # Compile a program./tcc samples/fizzbuzz.tc -o fizzbuzz.c # Build and run gcc fizzbuzz.c -std=c11 -o fizzbuzz./fizzbuzz Hello World use "stdlib/io.tc" void fn main: { print("hello, world") } Syntax Overview Variables i32 x = 10 f64 pi = 3.14 u8 byte Uninitialized variables default to 0. Functions i32 fn add: i32 a, i32 b { ret a + b } Structs struct Point { i32 x, i32 y } Point p p.x = 10 Pointers i32 x = 42 ->i32 ptr = @x // address-of ->ptr = 99 // dereference =>i32 slice = arr[1:4] // fat pointer (slice) i32 len = slice.len // built-in length Control Flow if (x > 0) {... } loop {... break } loop if (i i32 arr = alloc(i32, 100) defer { free(arr) } C FFI extern "C" { i32 fn printf: ->i8 fmt,... {} } Types Tight-C C Equivalent i8 char i16 int16_t i32 int32_t i64 int64_t u8 uint8_t u16 uint16_t u32 uint32_t u64 uint64_t f32 float f64 double void void Project Structure tc-lang/ compiler/ include/ # Header files src/ # Compiler source (C) stdlib/ # Standard library (.tc) samples/ # Example programs docs/ # Language specification Makefile # Build system Stdlib stdlib/io.tc — I/O Function Description print(s) Print string + newline printn(s) Print string, no newline printi(n) Print i64 + newline printin(n) Print i64, no newline readi() Read i64 from stdin readc() Read single char from stdin stdlib/str.tc — Strings Function Description slen(s) String length seq(a, b) String equality (returns 1 if equal) scpy(dest, src) Copy string scat(dest, src) Concatenate strings sneq(a, b, n) Compare first n bytes sfind(s, c) Find first char occurrence sfindlast(s, c) Find last char occurrence shas(haystack, needle) Find substring stdlib/math.tc — Math Function Description iabs(x) Absolute value (integer) min(a, b) Minimum of two integers max(a, b) Maximum of two integers clamp(x, lo, hi) Clamp value to range sqrt64(x) Square root (f64) pow64(base, exp) Power (f64) fabs64(x) Absolute value (f64) sin, cos, tan Trig functions (extern C) log, log2, log10 Logarithms (extern C) stdlib/mem.tc — Memory Function Description zero(ptr, n) Zero out n bytes copy(dest, src, n) Copy n bytes (overlap safe) memeq(a, b, n) Compare n bytes (1 if equal) fill(ptr, val, n) Fill n bytes with value stdlib/conv.tc — Conversions Function Description stoi(s) String to i64 stoib(s, base) String to i64 with base stof(s) String to f64 itos(n, buf, size) i64 to string (into buffer) ftos(n, buf, size) f64 to string (into buffer) Building the Compiler Requires gcc and make. make # Build tcc make clean # Remove build artifacts Philosophy Everything that can be built in the stdlib has to. Tight-C bets that C's power doesn't require C's complexity. Strip away the historical baggage and you get a language a single person can implement, understand fully, and still write real systems code in. Built by @alonsovm44