[thwarted]

Most programs do something other than parse the syntax of the language they are written in. A programming language really only needs to be self-hosting once, and that may be an early program, but it seems unlikely it is the very first.

[rev_null]

Yes, but most programming languages are around for a few years before someone tries to use them to implement another language.

[coldtea]

Toy s-expression parsers are on an equal footing with "Hello World" regarding their complexity.

It's not like they tried to implement some full Lisp/Scheme.