Pascal not considered harmful - was Re: Rich kids are into COBOL

"Bootstrapping" compiler code is quite common. So, it's not unusual to find FORTRAN source code in FORTRAN compilers, etc. I doubt that many compilers are written entirely in assembly nowadays. For example, back in the late 70s, I put together a business BASIC compiler for the 8080/8085. Theoretically, it was coded in assembly, but it wasn't 8085 assembly. The technique was to code in a platform-independent assembly language whose data types and operations match the language elements that you're working with--words, numbers, tokens, etc. Then one codes a small emulator in whatever is handy for the target system to get code generation shaken out. Finally, one implements the final compiler by taking the specialized machine and converting them via macros to native assembly. We coded our emulator and macro processor in PL/M. They were very simple and let us get on with the job of writing a compiler. When it came time to convert to x86 code, it was a walk in the park, as very little of the compiler needed recoding. The code was subsequently moved to Xenix and was in production as late as 5 years ago, even though the original company and hardware had been gone for decades. ISTR that Ryan-McFarland did their implementations the same way back in the day. I still have the original "printed-on-a-Teletype Model 40 printer" design document that I did. --Chuck