--- title: Exploring the c4... compiler? | daily.dev description: c4 is a compiler and VM written in four functions, implementing C. It generates bytecode and can run C programs, including itself. canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/exploring-the-c4-compiler--x7uaicvva twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Exploring the c4... compiler? | daily.dev og:description: c4 is a compiler and VM written in four functions, implementing C. It generates bytecode and can run C programs, including itself. og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/exploring-the-c4-compiler--x7uaicvva og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/x7UaicVvA.png og:image:alt: Exploring the c4... compiler? og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Exploring the c4... compiler? **[Lobsters](https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters)** · 5 min read · 3 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary c4 is a compiler and VM written in four functions, implementing C. It generates bytecode and can run C programs, including itself. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: --- Tags: [#compiler](https://daily.dev/tags/compiler), [#self-hosting](https://daily.dev/tags/self-hosting), [#virtual-machine](https://daily.dev/tags/virtual-machine) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/exploring-the-c4-compiler--x7uaicvva) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Exploring the c4... compiler?","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/exploring-the-c4-compiler--x7uaicvva","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/exploring-the-c4-compiler--x7uaicvva"},"datePublished":"2024-05-11T20:53:27.692Z","dateModified":"2025-12-08T02:13:12.966Z","description":"c4 is a compiler and VM written in four functions, implementing C. It generates bytecode and can run C programs, including itself.","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/5b8d2f0122dc05753c25f7edd717c9dc?_a=AQAEuiZ","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/5b8d2f0122dc05753c25f7edd717c9dc?_a=AQAEuiZ","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Lobsters","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Lobsters","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--tl8v_Fku--/f_auto,t_logo/v1698841318/logos/lobste.jpg","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/exploring-the-c4-compiler--x7uaicvva","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":3},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"compiler,self-hosting,virtual-machine","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lobsters","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Exploring the c4... compiler?"}]} ```