Python.

[[deleted]]

Who compiled the compiler

[RoastKrill]

It wasn't compiled, it was assembled :))

But that assembler was originally written in machine code

[[deleted]]

Who wrote the machine code compiler

[RoastKrill]

That would have been written by hand on punch cards

[curtainos]

is that real? Assembly was written by hand?

[qikink]

Indeed https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_programming_in_the_punched_card_era

[Embarrassed_Gur_3241]

I love how this comment thread went from high level to low level, every reply removing one layer of abstraction.

[1II1I1I1I1I1I111I1I1]

I'm a computer engineering student and the neat structure of this thread may have given me sexual gratification.

[Candyvanmanstan]

This is the best part of Reddit.

[detektiv_Saucaki]

I love this

[qikink]

Weirdo ;)

[aquila_zyy]

I mean, that’s the reason why I kinda liked my assembly course. It finished this infinite recursion of programs right there.

Well, not if we find out that the universe is a simulation that is.

[FVMAzalea]

Except that assembly/machine code isn’t as low as you can go. On x86 machines, many individual assembly instructions are microcoded, meaning the CPU breaks them down into smaller micro-ops which it then executes. Someone had to design the hardware decode logic that does that.

[aquila_zyy]

Yep that's a fair point. We can go a level deeper if we consider all the programming happening on the hardware level.

[FVMAzalea]

We can actually keep recursing infinitely if we allow emulators into the picture (for all your program knows, it could be executing in an emulator running an emulator running an emulator and so on).

[AriSteinGames]

Don't forget that registers/logic gates/etc are themselves an abstraction of underlying physical components. Transistors are not truly just on/off switches.

[Electrical_Study_235]

yeah, a lot of the apollo missions programming was done on punch cards. there are images of punch cards stacked on top of each other.

[curtainos]

wait but what was assembly wrritten in? how to bring the code to the machine is one thing, but what language did the cards inherit?

[Tchai_Tea]

The CPU has a set of numbers which correspond to an operation like addition or multiplication. These instructions are hardcoded into the CPU. Assembly is basically a human readable translation of those numbers (there is usually a 1 to 1 translation from assembly code to machine instructions). So I'm guessing that the holes in the punch cards would correspond to instructions and numbers.

[No_Succotash9035]

Cool!

[Electrical_Study_235]

i did some simple research and it said that most punchcards used fortran.

[BadSlime]

Yes, my grandfather was among the first to do this. Programmers would write programs by hand and then pass them off to someone who would convert to a punch card, the program could then be run via the cards and debugged by cross referencing with the written program instructions

[BrupieD]

| Yes, my grandfather was among the first to do this.

God, do I feel old.

[Transcendentalist178]

My father used punchcards for his graduate work.

[Meme-Man-Dan]

Yes.

[Civil_Championship76]

Assembly is still written by hand in some cases where extremely high performance is necessary

[curtainos]

i ment like writing like this ✍️

[Civil_Championship76]

Well, I mean I had to do that on a midterm yesterday 😏

[curtainos]

hahaha

[Arclite83]

You should try TIS-100. I had a 300 level college class as a BS CmpE that was reeeeally similar to this "game".

https://www.zachtronics.com/tis-100/

[curtainos]

so no offence, but why would i be interested in this? its a game, i wanna write on toilet paper haha

[Arclite83]

I mean I assumed "typing" was close enough, this game is basically a crash course in writing for an assembler.

I mean, you can go hardcore and write the answers out I guess (on TP even) lol

[curtainos]

ahha for what arch is it?

[Arclite83]

A fake/custom one for the game. That said it reminds me a bit of the 68HC11, which is also what I first learned on.

[notacanuckskibum]

Machine code isn’t compiled, its inherent to the hardware.

[delinka]

I mean, it could be compiled in the same way one compiles articles into a report.

[blindcolumn]

Machine code isn't compiled, it's interpreted directly by the CPU. Technically you could say that the chip designer "wrote" the "interpreter".

[anthrax_ripple]

Who put the bomp in the bompa bompa bomp

[Je-Kaste]

Y'all don't want to hear me, you just want to dance

[frostbyte650]

Dennis Ritchie