plangc

PLangC is a statically typed, compiled programming language designed for systems programming with an emphasis on safety and performance. It adopts a C-like syntax to ease porting and interoperability, while introducing modern protections such as bounds checking, explicit memory management, and deterministic resource handling. The language targets low-level development, including kernel modules and embedded firmware, as well as high-performance systems software.

PLangC originated within the PLangC Project, a cooperative initiative started in the early 2010s by researchers from several universities and industry partners. The first public release appeared in 2017, with later stable versions adding a borrow-checking mode and an official standard library. The project aims to balance C-like control with safer abstractions while preserving compatibility with the C ABI for interoperability.

Core features include a strict type system with generics, a memory management model combining deterministic destruction with optional reference counting, and a foreign function interface to C. The language provides safe zero-cost abstractions, optional pattern matching for enums, a lightweight concurrency model with async/await, and a module system with package scoping.

Tooling and implementation: The reference implementation uses the plangc compiler built on LLVM, with a separate runtime library. A package manager and build system, the PLangC Package Manager (ppm), handles dependencies and cross-compilation. The standard library includes I/O, threading primitives, filesystem access, and FFI helpers.

Usage and reception: PLangC has seen adoption in embedded and safety-critical systems, as well as performance-sensitive components where C interoperability is important. The ecosystem emphasizes safety and portability, supported by tutorials and benchmarks. Critics point to the learning curve of the memory model and the maturity of tooling compared with more established languages.