I wonder if a suitably minimalist C compiler (along the lines of C4[1] or C4x86[2], although perhaps a bit more featured) and&#x2F;or assembler to go along with it would be a neat idea too - now you can have a complete self-bootstrapping OS which one person can easily understand.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=8558822" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=8558822</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=8746054" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=8746054</a>