Writing a C Compiler, in Zig
by tosh on 4/23/2026, 9:20:47 AM
https://ar-ms.me/thoughts/c-compiler-1-zig/
Comments
by: fuhsnn
Looking at the repo, the author seemed a little fed up [1] with the nature of lower level language and quitted.<p>[1] <a href="https://github.com/asibahi/paella/blob/main/writeup/c19.md#user-content-fn-month-f690d35c5c3bc8477be727677652c31f" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/asibahi/paella/blob/main/writeup/c19.md#u...</a>
4/23/2026, 11:25:53 AM
by: scatbot
Cool project. Feels like writing a C compiler in Zig aligns nicely with the old "maintain it in Zig" idea that was part of Zig's early value proposition. Is that still considered a relevant goal today?<p>Longer term it also makes me wonder whether something like this could eventually reduce reliance on Clang/LLVM for the C frontend in zig's toolchain.
4/23/2026, 11:18:10 AM
by: flossly
I thought Zig has a C compiler built in? Or is it just the Zig build system that's able to compile C, but uses an external compiler for that?<p>Still a proper programmer-flex to build another one.
4/23/2026, 11:33:50 AM