[fpc-pascal] Freepascal 2.0 for cygwin

Marco van de Voort marcov at stack.nl
Mon Aug 22 08:38:09 CEST 2005


> > The first compilers were written in assembly language. This allowed
> for
> > the next generation compilers to be written in a high level language.
> 
> 
> And the assembly language was just magically inserted into the memory
> with that magic script?

Any device that can enter data via I/O. Punchcards, dipswitches on the
device. Later magnetic drum etc. Handcode the instructions etc.

But keep in mind that "compilers" are as old as the fifties, and assemblers
are probably older.

However even in the eighties a lot of compilers were still written at least
for a significant part in assembler. Only the more research oriented
weren't, for maintainability.
 
There probably never was one original compiler. This step (nothing -> asm ->
compiler) has made a zillion time probably. Typically a simpler version of
the compiler (think few thousand lines) were used to compile the full ones.
However that limited the language and RTL that can be used to program the
full ones. So when in the nineties compilers and auxiliery tools as linkers
and assemblers became more readily available, more advanced compilers
started to become used to build new compilers.




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