Re: How does a language compile itself?

David Gay wrote:
>
> J KILLEA <crp333@worldnet.att.net> writes:
> [Summary: how can you write a compiler for X in X ?]
>
> - Jay Killea
> [It's called bootstrapping. You generally hand-compile a tiny first
> version or do a tiny cross-compiler in some other language, then keep
> feeding improved and expanded version N through version N-1. -John]
>
> This has always sounded like way too much work to me (the N versions
> of the compiler and language, that is). Instead when I wrote a
> compiler, I started with an interpreter for the language (written in
> C), and then wrote the compiler directly in the final language.


This is how it starts, of course. Then there's a round of compiler
improvements. Then the language standard gets extended, so the
compiler gets extended. Then all the compilers that can build your
compiler (yourself and at least 1 or 2 others) all get the new
features. Then you start to let the new features creep into the
compiler source itself (at least in part because no compiler you are
using complains when you use the new features accidently).


Basically, any production compiler with ongoing maintenance and
improvements is continously going through the N, N++, N+=2...
sequence already.


Cliff
--
Cliff Click, Ph.D. Compiler Researcher & Designer
RISC Software, Motorola PowerPC Compilers
cliffc@risc.sps.mot.com (512) 891-7240
--

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