Thank you for pointing this out. It obviously can't be his first C compiler because it's written in C! :)
I'm not even sure it's the first C compiler written in C, though - it just says in the github description "the very first c compiler known to exist in the wild."
Regardless, if it's from 1972 it's a very early version.
> Thank you for pointing this out. It obviously can't be his first C compiler because it's written in C! :)
This isn't obvious to me.
I just assumed that the first iteration was compiled by hand to bootstrap a minimum workable version. Then the language would be extended slightly, and that version would be compiled with the compiler v. n-1 until a full-feature compiler is made.
It makes sense to write a compiler in a different language, but given the era, I could see hand-compilation still being a thing.
I'm not even sure it's the first C compiler written in C, though - it just says in the github description "the very first c compiler known to exist in the wild."
Regardless, if it's from 1972 it's a very early version.