🚀 Oak C Parser

Legacy Performance, Modern Tooling — A high-performance, incremental C parser built on the Oak framework. Optimized for systems programming, legacy codebase analysis, and real-time developer tooling.

🎯 Project Vision

C is the foundation of modern computing, but its aging syntax and complex preprocessor make it a challenge for modern developer tools. oak-c provides a robust, high-performance, Rust-powered infrastructure for parsing C that is both accurate and incredibly fast. By utilizing Oak's incremental parsing architecture, we enable the creation of highly responsive IDEs, security analyzers, and refactoring tools that can handle massive C codebases and complex header chains in real-time.

✨ Core Features

⚡ Blazing Fast: Leverages Rust's zero-cost abstractions to deliver sub-millisecond parsing, essential for real-time feedback in systems-level development.
🔄 Incremental by Design: Built-in support for partial updates—re-parse only the sections of the C file that changed. Ideal for large-scale source files and complex build systems.
🌳 High-Fidelity AST: Generates a comprehensive Abstract Syntax Tree capturing the full depth of C:
- Declarations & Definitions: Precise mapping of variables, functions, structs, unions, and enums.
- Expressions & Statements: Full support for C's complex operator precedence and control flow.
- Preprocessor Awareness: Robust handling of directives and macro definitions.
- Comments & Formatting: Retains all trivia, enabling faithful round-trip processing and refactoring.
🛡️ Industrial-Grade Fault Tolerance: Engineered to recover from syntax errors gracefully, providing precise diagnostics—crucial for maintaining a smooth developer experience when editing complex C code.
🧩 Deep Ecosystem Integration: Seamlessly works with oak-lsp for full LSP support and oak-mcp for intelligent code structure discovery.

🏗️ Architecture

The parser follows the Green/Red Tree architecture (inspired by Roslyn), which allows for:

Efficient Immutability: Share nodes across different versions of the tree without copying.
Lossless Syntax Trees: Retains all trivia (whitespace and comments), enabling faithful code formatting and refactoring.
Type Safety: Strongly-typed "Red" nodes provide a convenient and safe API for tree traversal and analysis.

Quick Example

use oak_c::{CParser, SourceText, CLanguage};

fn main() {
    let code = r#"
        #include <stdio.h>
        int main() {
            printf("Hello, World!\n");
            return 0;
        }
    "#;
    let source = SourceText::new(code);
    let config = CLanguage::new();
    let parser = CParser::new(&config);
    let result = parser.parse(&source);

    if result.is_success() {
        println!("Parsing successful!");
        let root = result.root();
        // ... traverse the tree
    }
}

🤝 Contributing