A lightweight, customizable, and easily embeddable Lisp interpreter and scripting language in C, ideal for applications requiring minimal memory footprint.
Femtolisp is a lightweight and embeddable Lisp interpreter written in C. Despite its small size, it provides all core Lisp features like a REPL, variables, functions, macros, closures, and more. It compiles to highly optimized native code via libgcc.
With its minimal feature set and liberal license, Femtolisp aims to be embedded into other applications as a customizable scripting runtime. It weighs in at only about 6k LoC, has no dependencies outside of libc, and can compile down to a tiny executable size.
Femtolisp prioritizes C integration and tiny footprint over standardization or comprehensive features. It can be easily customized and extended by modifying or replacing the included base runtime.
Given its focus on small size and customizability versus standard compliance, Femtolisp may appeal to developers who need a scripting runtime for embedding where Lua or other options are too heavy. It provides a basic, customizable Lisp that compiles to native code.
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