Does C also have a compiler that turns C code into assembly before the real runtime does its work? Never done much C development in the past, didn't get the impression it worked like that.
What do you think ahead of time compilation is?
Yes, that's 'a C compiler', like gcc.
> before the real runtime does its work
Sort of, the program is 'the runtime', but this is backwards, languages that have 'a runtime' get the name from it running at runtime to compile/interpret source or byte code. In C what runs at runtime is just your program, whatever you compiled. (Maybe it's an interpreter though!)