Show HN: Xcc700: Self-hosting mini C compiler for ESP32 (Xtensa) in 700 lines

Re:Show HN: Xcc700: Self-hosting mini C compiler for ESP32 (... by ladyanita22 on Friday December 26, 2025 @01:49PM (#46394948)

That's super cool! I have been wondering what could be done with ESP32 if it weren't for the lack of RAM.

As a fun of Rust, one thing that saddens me is knowing these things would be difficult to achieve with a Rust compiler, given the language seems to be vastly more complex.

Unless someone created a subset of Rust without (some?) safety checks, I guess.

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Re:Show HN: Xcc700: Self-hosting mini C compiler for ESP32 (... by isitcontent on Friday December 26, 2025 @02:34PM (#46395358)

Right, Rust is more complex, and it is the complex bits that make it Rust. There are sure some shortcuts possible for starters, for example scope-based lifetimes like in early Rust versions, but still, to make it a worthwhile upgrade over C, it would take some intermediate representation, and definitely more than 700 lines.

There is a lively movement for coding in Rust for esp32, that works, just not on the device I think.

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Re:Show HN: Xcc700: Self-hosting mini C compiler for ESP32 (... by apitman on Friday December 26, 2025 @11:29PM (#46399151)

I would love to see something like C with a borrow checker and Result/Option but not the fancy type system.

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Re:Show HN: Xcc700: Self-hosting mini C compiler for ESP32 (... by jacquesm on Saturday December 27, 2025 @07:06AM (#46401256)

The big question is whether or not that is even possible. My money is on 'no'.

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Re:Show HN: Xcc700: Self-hosting mini C compiler for ESP32 (... by pjmlp on Saturday December 27, 2025 @05:43AM (#46400795)

Everything that was possible on PCs with MS-DOS.

I think people have no clue how powerful ESP 32 actually is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_PC1512

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