I think that having an "almost" C compiler is a trick they use to minimize the size of the codebase.

Yes, this is it. A C compiler in 50 kilobytes of code is pretty innovative.

It's also doesn't lie about the "almost". It's really almost C. It's just that C's stdlib is POSIX centric and doesn't fit Forth well, so it's not implemented as is.

TCC is 100 kB, already exists, and is a real C compiler (+preprocessor+assembler+linker). It can build Linux too!

https://bellard.org/tcc/

100kb binary. I'm talking about source code size. TinyCC's source is 1400kb in size.

Or rather, why is it not much worse than an actual C compiler.

In an apocalyptic event energy would be precious. You'd rather have an optimizing compiler to run longer off your solar-charged car battery or whatever.

I like the roleplay/lore and the tech effort is impressive but I don't think it fits the idea.

> I like the roleplay/lore and the tech effort is impressive but I don't think it fits the idea.

"An optimizing compiler requires at least 500MB of RAM, which can only be looted from level 7 Terminator elites!"