type-c

A TypeScript -> C Transpiler / Compiler written in Rust.

FAQ

Why?

This is a stupid idea. TypeScript and C are two completely different languages with different paradigms and conventions.

That being said, I wanted to see how far I can take this stupid project. So far it seems to be going pretty well: it can compile hello world programs, use C libraries and even use pointers from within TypeScript.

What does it look like?

A simple hello world program looks like this:

import { printf } from "stdio.h";

export function main(argc: number, argv: string[]): number {
  printf("Hello, C!\n");
  return 0;
}

and compiles to this:

int main(int argc, char** argv) {
printf("Hello, C\n");
return 0;
}

Why is the output poorly formatted?

Because there's no need (and is too much effort) to format it from within the C codegen. You can pass it to clang-format like so:

type-c examples/hello_world.ts | clang-format

Is there support for editors?

At least for now, no!

How are pointers handled?

For typing pointers, you can use the Pointer<T> type and pass in the type under the pointer as the generic.

Example:

let numberPtr: Pointer<number>;

is compiled into:

int* numberPtr;

For creating pointers, you can use the ptr function, and pass the object of which you want to get the address of.

Example:

let a: number = 4;
let b: Pointer<number> = ptr(a);

is compiled into:

int a = 4;
int* b = &a;

Is there a standard library?

Sort of. There are some types and functions which are accessible without needing to manually import them. In the future, we may create an npm package, similar to @bun/types which will include all the type and function definitions such as Pointer and ptr().