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This technique is usually only practicable when an interpreter already exists for the very same language that is to be compiled; though possible, it is extremely uncommon to humanly compile a compiler with itself. The concept borrows directly from and is an example of the broader notion of running a
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Before a system can become self-hosted, another system is needed to develop it until it reaches a stage where self-hosting is possible. When developing for a new computer or operating system, a system to run the development software is needed, but development software used to write and build the
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on one platform to be compiled for a different machine or operating system, making it possible to create an operating system for a machine for which a self-hosting compiler does not yet exist. Once written, software can be deployed to the target system using means such as an
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Since self-hosted compilers suffer from the same bootstrap problems as operating systems, a compiler for a new programming language needs to be written in an existing language. So the developer may use something like assembly language,
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to build the first version of the compiler. Once the language is mature enough, development of the compiler can shift to the compiler's native language, allowing the compiler to build itself.
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device. This is similar to the method used to write software for gaming consoles or for handheld devices like cellular phones or tablets, which do not host their own development tools.
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An operating system is self-hosted when the toolchain to build the operating system runs on that same operating system. For example, Windows can be built on a computer running
Windows.
328:, an editor, an assembler, and a few utilities were completed, the Unix operating system was self-hosting – programs could be written and tested on the PDP-7 itself.
342:) in TMG on a piece of paper and "decided to give his piece of paper to his piece of paper", doing the computation himself, thus compiling a TMG compiler into
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Once the system is mature enough to compile its own code, the cross-development dependency ends. At this point, an operating system is said to be self-hosted.
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Software development using compiler or interpreters can also be self hosted when the compiler is capable of compiling itself.
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The compiler as it exists on the standard compiler tape is a machine language program that was obtained by having the
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by Hart and Levin at MIT in 1962. They wrote a Lisp compiler in Lisp, testing it inside an existing Lisp
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have self-hosted implementations: compilers that are both in and for the same language. An approach is
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and larger systems. Other programs that are typically self-hosting include
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definition of the compiler work on itself through the interpreter.
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The following programming languages have self-hosting compilers:
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that produces new versions of that same program—for example, a
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program on itself as input, used also in various proofs in
826:"VCF East 2019 -- Brian Kernighan interviews Ken Thompson"
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operating system is also necessary. This is called a
49:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
316:in 1968 by writing and compiling programs on the
16:Software that can produce new versions of itself
388:List of languages having self-hosting compilers
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324:for testing. After the initial Unix kernel, a
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911:"Haskell Communities and Activities Report"
109:Learn how and when to remove this message
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357:(the GNU Compiler Collection) and GNU
864:BASICO compiler bootstrapping example
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244:, or even a scripting language like
47:adding citations to reliable sources
852:"The Development of the C Language"
769:"What is a self-hosting compiler?"
196:A solution to this problem is the
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262:History of compiler construction
217:(such as a USB thumb drive), or
189:problem or, more generically, a
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949:from the original on 2017-06-04
34:needs additional citations for
320:and carrying them over to the
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791:"AI Memo 39-The new compiler"
297:, such as the proof that the
58:"Self-hosting" compilers
295:theoretical computer science
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748:Indirect self-modification
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353:system relies largely on
171:revision control software
167:command-line interpreters
145:that can compile its own
789:Hart, Tim; Levin, Mike.
312:started development on
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993:Self-hosting software
924:https://www.pyret.org
374:programming languages
988:Computer programming
123:computer programming
43:improve this article
850:Dennis M. Ritchie.
733:Futamura projection
349:Development of the
326:command interpreter
929:2018-04-10 at the
875:ClojureScript Next
191:chicken or the egg
155:personal computers
153:is commonplace on
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796:. Archived from
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60: –
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54:Find sources:
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32:This article
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21:
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951:. Retrieved
937:
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890:. Retrieved
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835:. Retrieved
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805:. Retrieved
798:the original
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465:CoffeeScript
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310:Ken Thompson
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280:S-expression
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215:flash memory
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127:self-hosting
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41:Please help
36:verification
33:
663:Standard ML
614:Free Pascal
599:Free Pascal
564:Common Lisp
367:GNU Project
272:Interpreter
202:source code
147:source code
982:Categories
953:2017-09-19
837:2019-10-28
807:2008-05-23
754:References
728:Dogfooding
683:TypeScript
570:LiveScript
432:Visual C++
287:AI Memo 39
163:assemblers
99:April 2010
69:newspapers
892:7 January
658:Smalltalk
228:Compilers
193:dilemma.
135:toolchain
968:"Virgil"
947:Archived
927:Archived
717:See also
365:for the
344:assembly
305:Examples
285:—
151:software
143:compiler
854:. 1993.
831:YouTube
580:Nemerle
575:Mercury
540:Haskell
470:Crystal
256:History
159:kernels
131:program
83:scholar
692:Virgil
653:Scheme
637:Rakudo
623:Python
610:Pascal
590:Oberon
555:Kotlin
530:Gambas
520:Factor
505:Elixir
500:Eiffel
490:Delphi
334:wrote
318:GE-635
246:Python
85:
78:
71:
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801:(PDF)
794:(PDF)
667:MLton
648:Scala
619:Pyret
605:OCaml
545:Idris
525:Forth
495:Dylan
475:Curry
436:clang
413:BASIC
403:ALGOL
372:Many
359:Emacs
322:PDP-7
207:EPROM
90:JSTOR
76:books
894:2022
704:Mono
688:Vala
643:Rust
633:Raku
627:PyPy
560:Lisp
550:Java
515:FASM
485:Dart
454:Mono
442:4.8)
418:BCPL
314:Unix
268:Lisp
219:JTAG
169:and
62:news
710:Zig
678:TMG
673:Tcl
585:Nim
440:gcc
428:C++
398:Ada
355:GCC
351:GNU
338:(a
336:TMG
250:Lua
248:or
242:C++
137:or
121:In
45:by
984::
945:.
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828:.
816:^
781:^
771:.
702:,
535:Go
510:F#
452:,
446:C#
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39:.
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