The ones based on Java run on the JVM, which is always written in C :) The ones written in Lisp, well, at the bottom it's C again. I haven't seen a popular lisp yet with a meaningful amount of assembly in lieu of C.

> The ones written in Lisp

I have some of these exotic Lisp Machines from the 80s which run no C code by default and where the C compiler is optional and written in Lisp. ;-) Obviously exotic and outdated. An alternate world.

> I haven't seen a popular lisp yet with a meaningful amount of assembly in lieu of C.

https://github.com/Clozure/ccl/tree/master/level-0/ARM

And, yes, the assembler is written in Lisp, too.

Relative to the Lisp world, Clozure CL is relatively 'popular'. ;-)

Which Java VM?

There are plenty to choose from, implement fully in Java like jikes, partially implemented in Java and C++ like OpenJDK, implemented in Java and C like MicroEJ, and lots of other ones to chose from.

Then there is project Metropolis on the OpenJDK, which targets to replace Hotspot with Graal, thus reducing the amount of C++ code on the runtime.

HotSpot is written in C++. I don't know about the other popular JVMs (IBMs thing, Azul, etc) - but I would guess C++ also.

Isn't oracle vm written in C++?

Ah, fair point.