Re: "The C compiler is Written in C" What!

"Glen Herrmannsfeldt" <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu>
26 Jul 2003 21:44:42 -0400

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Re: "The C compiler is Written in C" What! gah@ugcs.caltech.edu (Glen Herrmannsfeldt) (2003-07-26)
Re: "The C compiler is Written in C" What! marcov@toad.stack.nl (Marco van de Voort) (2003-07-31)
Re: "The C compiler is Written in C" What! postmaster@paul.washington.dc.us (Paul Robinson) (2003-07-31)
Re: "The C compiler is Written in C" What! rinie@xs4all.nl (Rinie Kervel) (2003-07-31)
Re: "The C compiler is Written in C" What! gah@ugcs.caltech.edu (Glen Herrmannsfeldt) (2003-08-04)
Re: "The C compiler is Written in C" What! Martin.Ward@durham.ac.uk (Martin Ward) (2003-08-04)
Re: "The C compiler is Written in C" What! marcov@toad.stack.nl (Marco van de Voort) (2003-08-04)
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From: "Glen Herrmannsfeldt" <gah@ugcs.caltech.edu>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.compilers
Date: 26 Jul 2003 21:44:42 -0400
Organization: Comcast Online
References: <43797288.0307260936.7ea8822c@posting.google.com>
Keywords: practice
Posted-Date: 26 Jul 2003 21:44:42 EDT

"Unbiased_me" <mailmethere@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:43797288.0307260936.7ea8822c@posting.google.com...


> I recently read in book that the C compiler is written in C. I unable
> to comprehend the concept behind this. How is the compiler design
> started...Where does one start.
>
> I tried Googling for the answer that C is written in C, however the
> web search proved futile.


It is usual to write a compiler in the language that it compiles. If
existing compilers exist, the first compiler can be compiled on
another compiler (possibly on another machine), and then the result
used to compile the new one.


If no existing compilers exist, a simple (subset) compiler is written
in another language to compile a simple version of the new one, and
slowly add to it.


While C compilers written in C are common, I do know of at least one
Fortran compiler written in Fortran. That is not so common.


There are a number of good books on compiler design that will explain this.


-- glen

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