Bootstrapping (compilers)

In computer science, bootstrapping is the technique for producing a self-compiling compiler – that is, a compiler (or assembler) written in the source programming language that it intends to compile. An initial core version of the compiler (the bootstrap compiler) is generated in a different language (which could be assembly language); successive expanded versions of the compiler are developed using this minimal subset of the language. The problem of compiling a self-compiling compiler has been called the chicken-or-egg problem in compiler design, and bootstrapping is a solution to this problem.^[1]^[2]

Bootstrapping is a fairly common practice when creating a programming language. Many compilers for many programming languages are bootstrapped, including compilers for ALGOL, BASIC, C, Common Lisp, D, Eiffel, Elixir, Go, Haskell, Java, Modula-2, Nim, Oberon, OCaml, Pascal, PL/I, Python, Rust, Scala, Scheme, TypeScript, Vala, Zig and more.

^ Reynolds, John H. (December 2003). "Bootstrapping a self-compiling compiler from machine X to machine Y". CCSC: Eastern Conference. Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges. 19 (2): 175–181. The idea of a compiler written in the language it compiles stirs up the old 'chicken-or-the-egg' conundrum: Where does the first one come from?
^ Glück, Robert (2012). "Bootstrapping compiler generators from partial evaluators". In Clarke, Edmund; Virbitskaite, Irina; Voronkov, Andrei (eds.). Perspectives of Systems Informatics: 8th International Andrei Ershov Memorial Conference, PSI 2011, Novosibirsk, Russia, June 27 – July 1, 2011, Revised Selected Papers. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Vol. 7162. Springer. pp. 125–141. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-29709-0_13. ISBN 978-3-642-29708-3. Getting started presents the chicken-and-egg problem familiar from compiler construction: one needs a compiler to bootstrap a compiler, and bootstrapping compiler generators is no exception.

[1] Reynolds, John H. (December 2003). "Bootstrapping a self-compiling compiler from machine X to machine Y". CCSC: Eastern Conference. Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges. 19 (2): 175–181. The idea of a compiler written in the language it compiles stirs up the old 'chicken-or-the-egg' conundrum: Where does the first one come from?

[2] Glück, Robert (2012). "Bootstrapping compiler generators from partial evaluators". In Clarke, Edmund; Virbitskaite, Irina; Voronkov, Andrei (eds.). Perspectives of Systems Informatics: 8th International Andrei Ershov Memorial Conference, PSI 2011, Novosibirsk, Russia, June 27 – July 1, 2011, Revised Selected Papers. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Vol. 7162. Springer. pp. 125–141. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-29709-0_13. ISBN 978-3-642-29708-3. Getting started presents the chicken-and-egg problem familiar from compiler construction: one needs a compiler to bootstrap a compiler, and bootstrapping compiler generators is no exception.

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