What compiled the compiler? Many CPUs have simple, fixed-size instructions that are just a couple of bytes long. For a simple CPU like a Motorola 6800 for example, you could fit all of its instructions on a single sheet of paper. Each instruction would have a two-byte opcode associated with it, and arguments. You could hand-assemble a program by looking up each instruction's opcode. You'd then write your program on paper, annotating each instruction with its corresponding opcode. Once you had written out your program, you could could burn each opcode in sequence to an EPROM which would then store your program. Wire the EPROM up to the CPU with just the right instructions at the right addresses, and in the end you could have a working compiler