Bootstrapping still requires outside support

by

Is there a way to actually write a compiler in its own language?

You have to have some existing language to write your new compiler in. If you were writing a new, say, C++ compiler, you would just write it in C++ and compile it with an existing compiler first. On the other hand, if you were creating a compiler for a new language, let’s call it Yazzleof, you would need to write the new compiler in another language first. Generally, this would be another programming language, but it doesn’t have to be. It can be assembly, or if necessary, machine code.

If you were going to bootstrap a compiler for Yazzleof, you generally wouldn’t write a compiler for the full language initially. Instead you would write a compiler for Yazzle-lite, the smallest possible subset of the Yazzleof (well, a pretty small subset at least). Then in Yazzle-lite, you would write a compiler for the full language. (Obviously this can occur iteratively instead of in one jump.) Because Yazzle-lite is a proper subset of Yazzleof, you now have a compiler which can compile itself.

There is a really good writeup about bootstrapping a compiler from the lowest possible level (which on a modern machine is basically a hex editor), titled Bootstrapping a simple compiler from nothing. It can be found at https://web.archive.org/web/20061108010907/http://www.rano.org/bcompiler.html.

More Related Contents:

  1. Writing a compiler in its own language
  2. Bootstrapping a compiler: why?
  3. Learning to write a compiler [closed]
  4. What is an application binary interface (ABI)?
  5. How does an interpreter/compiler work
  6. How was the first compiler written?
  7. Learning Resources on Parsers, Interpreters, and Compilers [closed]
  8. Correct suffix for Fortran 2003 source file – Intel Fortran compiler
  9. What’s the difference between parse trees and abstract syntax trees (ASTs)?
  10. Compiling a Java Class in memory with `lombok` annotations and Java JDK 8
  11. ios5 ARC what is the compiler flag to exclude a file from ARC?
  12. How does compiling circular dependencies work?
  13. Suggestions for writing a programming language? [closed]
  14. How does the Go1 compiler work?
  15. How do I compile and run a C program in Sublime Text 2?
  16. Are Fortran control characters (carriage control) still implemented in compilers?
  17. Maximum Method Name Length
  18. Unreachable code: error or warning? [closed]
  19. Is the buildSessionFactory() Configuration method deprecated in Hibernate?
  20. assign operator to variable in python?
  21. How to create a static library with g++?
  22. When / How does Linux load shared libraries into address space?
  23. Why does Java code with an inner class generates a third SomeClass$1.class file? [duplicate]
  24. What is bootstrapping?
  25. Why are compilers so stupid?
  26. Does a compiler always produce an assembly code?
  27. Why only literal strings saved in the intern pool by default?
  28. variable scope in statement blocks
  29. How do generics get compiled by the JIT compiler?
  30. Inline property initialisation and trailing comma

Leave a Comment