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What Anders Hejlsberg thinks about compilers

@anders-hejlsberg · 26 positions · 0 changes of mind

Danish software engineer and Microsoft technical fellow, creator of Turbo Pascal and Delphi and lead architect of C# and TypeScript.

Anders Hejlsberg did not write this page.

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4 dated positions, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Anders Hejlsberg has said — not written or endorsed by them.

4 positions so far — this page is not yet offered to search engines.

  1. Our readingA programming language is not a compiler but an experience: editing, running, debugging and the runtime library all have to fit together as one cycle.

    Their wordsThat was always the idea, and that that goes back even to the predecessor of Turbo Pascal, this idea that it's not just a compiler. It's an experience, right? I mean, you don't just compile your programs. You also edit them. You also run them. You also debug them. You also have a runtime library. It all has to like fit together.

    ↗TypeScript, C# and Turbo Pascal with Anders Hejlsbergyoutube.com 1st of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  3. Our readingLanguage design is ninety per cent the same work every time and ten per cent new, which is why the experience carries from one language to the next.

    Their wordsAnd quite honestly, language design is 90% the same and 10% new for for pretty much every language. Every language you build still has to have a compiler. Compiler is still built in a pretty much the same way.

    ↗TypeScript, C# and Turbo Pascal with Anders Hejlsbergyoutube.com 6th of 26 in this recording

    design

    Interesting

  5. Our readingWriting state machines by hand is a nightmare and exactly the kind of transformation a compiler should do for you — which is all await really is.

    Their wordsYou can have the compiler write the state machine. If you introduce syntax that allows you to indicate where you want to yield. And that's what await is.

    ↗TypeScript, C# and Turbo Pascal with Anders Hejlsbergyoutube.com 8th of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  7. Our readingA compiler that also serves an IDE has to be lazy and deferred throughout — a different way of building compilers from the one the textbooks teach.

    Their wordsAnd so everything is lazy and deferred and functional and reusable inside the compiler. And it's a very different way of writing compilers than than what the textbooks will traditionally teach you.

    ↗TypeScript, C# and Turbo Pascal with Anders Hejlsbergyoutube.com 16th of 26 in this recording

    Interesting