Minimalist C Compiler (mcc)

(Or maybe Modular C Compiler? Or maybe both, I haven't decided yet.)

Why do I bother?

(An apology for myself.)

• I want to know what goes into writing a compiler from scratch. Reading books about it just won't do anymore.
• I hate Bison and Flex and I actually enjoy writing fast lexers and parsers by hand. Don't judge me, everyone's got a perversion.
• I want to learn to write complex software and compilers have always attracted me.
• I need a framework to test out new code optimization algorithms without having to fight over existing code.
• Writing a C compiler in C looks like an opportunity to get to know all the dark corners of C.
• I'm interested in code optimization.
• I'd love to write something I can be proud of (at least a bit).

Design Goals

• An experimental compiler rather than a production one.
• Make the code robust and reusable.
• Write it so that a reasonably smart person can read it and see how it works.
• Keep it short and terse.

Front-end

• KISS
• C11-only
• Favor performance over flexibility
• Fast as hell
• Decent static analysis
• Warnings are errors by default

Back-end

• KISS
• x86-64 only
• Favor flexibility over performance
• Highly modular
• Highly configurable
• Make it easy to hack

Good Reading

• John Regehr's Blog