GCClike

GCClike is a descriptive label used in certain compiler projects and tooling to indicate that a language’s syntax and runtime expectations resemble those of GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) frontends for C-family languages. It is not a formal standard; rather, GCClike signals that code written in this style should be reasonably portable with GCC or amenable to translation to GCC-compatible C or C++.

Key features often associated with GCClike include C-style syntax and support for GCC-style extensions and annotations, such as __attribute__ attributes, inline assembly syntax, variadic macros, designated initializers, and built-in functions. The exact feature set varies by project and version, and not all GCC extensions are guaranteed to be available in every GCClike implementation.

In practice, GCClike is used in projects that aim to ease porting between languages or to generate code that GCC-based toolchains can compile and optimize. It is common in embedded and systems programming contexts, where GCC is a de facto standard toolchain, or in experimental compilers that front-end to C or to GCC’s intermediate representations.

Limitations and cautions: the label remains informal, and compatibility depends on the specific GCC version, backend, and target platform. Diagnostics, application binary interface rules, and optimization behavior may differ, so verification against real GCC builds is advised when precision and portability are required.

See also: GCC, GNU C, Clang, C, C++.