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This has always racked my brain. Compilers compile code. I imagine that the compiler is coded. So to actually run the code for a compiler, you'd have to compile it.

How was the first compiler compiled?

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It's like understanding recursion, you have to first understand recursion. – Urda Apr 25 '10 at 20:26
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The first compiler was written in assembly for the A-0 programming language in 1952. See Wikipedia for more info.

The first compiler that could compile itself was written for and in Lisp in 1962. This is called a self-hosting or bootstrapping compiler.

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For a long time, many programs (including compilers) were written directly in machine code or in assembly language. – grawity Apr 25 '10 at 12:48
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