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New developments highlight C’s enduring role in embedded systems while pressure grows for safer and more modern workflows. A multi-month industrial study comparing identical IoT microcontroller firmware in C versus Rust found no meaningful differences in speed or memory, and even reported a smaller runtime footprint for Rust-based Ariel OS than a typical bare-metal C stack—supporting Rust as a practical option for constrained devices, despite ongoing concerns about toolchain stability. Meanwhile, the CJIT (“C, Just in Time”) project revives interest in more interactive, JIT-like C tooling, packaging a tiny portable compiler/interpreter with example-driven learning (including SDL graphics) to make C experimentation faster and more approachable.
Embedded Rust or C Firmware? Lessons from an Industrial Microcontroller Use Case with Ariel OS
Researchers from STMicro, Polytechnic of Turin, Freie Universität Berlin and Inria compared two teams building identical IoT microcontroller firmware — one using C, the other Rust — over several months. Hardware measurements found no substantial difference in memory footprint or execution speed; Rust-based Ariel OS produced a smaller runtime footprint than a typical bare-metal C stack. The paper concludes Rust is a viable choice for industrial microcontroller firmware. Hacker News comments debate long-term stability and toolchain/versioning concerns, with responders noting archived toolchains and Rust editions mitigate compatibility risks. The study matters for embedded development choices, showing Rust can match C on constrained devices while delivering modern language features.
CJIT Skip to content CJIT C, Just in Time! A tiny, portable C compiler and interpreter inspired by HolyC by Terry Davis, based on TinyCC by Fabrice Bellard, and crafted by Jaromil & the Dyne.org crew Tutorial Downloads 🚀 Works everywhere 🪟 MS/Windows 🍎 Apple/OSX 🐧 GNU/Linux ⏱️ Instant Deployment 🤏🏼One file 🧩 Call dynamic libs 🪝 Use any shared function found in any dynamic library 👟 Rapid Prototyping 🦈 Write and execute C applications rapidly
A Hacker News post highlights C, Just In Time!, a project on dyne.org that brings JIT-like tooling and practical examples for C development, including graphics using SDL. Commenters note the project looks fun and educational; one points out an odd choice in examples (using fprintf to stderr for "hello, world"). The page emphasizes hands-on C workflows and graphical application examples, touting SDL for multimedia support. This matters because modernizing C tooling and offering approachable, example-driven resources can help maintainers, systems programmers, and educators bridge legacy C with contemporary development practices and multimedia programming. The project may attract developers seeking practical C tutorials and tooling improvements.