Good Old C - The Workhorse Language

I've noticed an interesting phenomenon with some of the modern functional languages (and older ones like Lisp). The language might be interpreted but more often than not the output is not machine code but C source code. Or the source code implementation of the interpreter is provided and it is in C.

A case in point. Author Nils M Holm is finishing off his book "Zen Style programming" which is about functional programming using Scheme and Lisp. Included along with the source of many Lisp programs is the C source code of the Lisp Interpreter; less than 70Kb. You'll also find the beta version (pdf) of his book there as well. This will probably only remain until publication so I've not added it as a permanent link.

• Link to C Tutorials
• Link to About Compilers and Interpreters article