Correct me if I am wrong: the Kotlin compiler was ...

# getting-started

[Sam Stone]

Correct me if I am wrong: the Kotlin compiler was originally written in Java. Meaning, a Java program J was written to parse the AST of a KT file(s) (the first Kotlin compiler, written in Java) and produce an executable/binary. Program J (the binary that Java produced from source code J) was then used to compile a Kotlin program K that itself could read KT files (the second Kotlin compiler, written in Kotlin) and produce a binary. The binary produced from K was used to compile an iteratively better version K1, which was used to compile K2, etc.

Somewhat based on this.

Does the current compiler rely on the JVM to run?

[hfhbd]

Yes, the current compiler (still) requires a JVM, mostly because it uses jvm only (and often Java) 3rd party dependencies, like IntelliJ.

[dmitriy.novozhilov]

FYI this process, when compiler is used for compilation of compiler itself called bootstraping
We update bootstrap version of compiler every two weeks, using fresh builds from master branch

[Kirill Grouchnikov]

This is how it is for any new language that wants to have its compiler eventually written in itself. Bootstrap in another language, mostly C.

[Stephan Schröder]

The Zig guys recently discussed the bootstraping solution space when announcing that they've now ditched their old compiler written in C++ for one written in Zig. To be honest, it blow my mind 🤯 https://ziglang.org/news/goodbye-cpp/
I love the animation they used to show how happy they were to ditch C++ 😂
https://ziglang.org/news/goodbye-cpp/mario-betrays-yoshi.webm