<operating system, compiler> To load and initialise the
operating system on a computer. Normally abbreviated to
"boot". From the curious expression "to pull oneself up by
one's bootstraps", one of the legendary feats of Baron von
Munchhausen. The bootstrap loader is the program that runs
on the computer before any (normal) program can run. Derived
terms include reboot, cold boot, warm boot, soft boot
and hard boot.
The term also applies to the use of a compiler to compile
itself. The usual process is to write an interpreter for a
language, L, in some other existing language. The compiler is
then written in L and the interpreter is used to run it. This
produces an executable for compiling programs in L from the
source of the compiler in L. This technique is often used to
verify the correctness of a compiler. It was first used in
the LISP community.
