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Bootstrapping

• Bootstrapping is widely used in the compilation development.
• Bootstrapping is used to produce a self-hosting compiler. Self-hosting compiler is a type of compiler that can compile its own source code.
• Bootstrap compiler is used to compile the compiler and then you can use this compiled compiler to compile everything else as well as future versions of itself.

A compiler can be characterized by three languages:

1. Source Language
2. Target Language
3. Implementation Language

The T- diagram shows a compiler ^SC_I^T for Source S, Target T, implemented in I.

Follow some steps to produce a new language L for machine A:

1. Create a compiler ^SC_A^A for subset, S of the desired language, L using language “A” and that compiler runs on machine A.

2. Create a compiler ^LC_S^A for language L written in a subset of L.

3. Compile ^LC_S^A using the compiler ^SC_A^A to obtain ^LC_A^A. ^LC_A^A is a compiler for language L, which runs on machine A and produces code for machine A.

The process described by the T-diagrams is called bootstrapping.