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→History: add authors to refeences
| url = http://www.computerhistory.org/events/lectures/cobol_06121997/index.shtml
| url = http://www.computerhistory.org/events/lectures/cobol_06121997/index.shtml
| title = The World's First COBOL Compilers
| title = The World's First COBOL Compilers
| author = Harold "Bud" Lawson and Howard Bromberg
| accessdate = 2012-03-24}}</ref> based on the legal meaning of [[compilation]], since her translator for the A-0 language merely put together various snippets of pre-built code.
| accessdate = 2012-03-24}}</ref> based on the legal meaning of [[compilation]], since her translator for the A-0 language merely put together various snippets of pre-built code.
| url = http://eprints.cs.vt.edu/archive/00000875/01/CS82010-R.pdf
| url = http://eprints.cs.vt.edu/archive/00000875/01/CS82010-R.pdf
| title = Twenty five years of Fortran
| title = Twenty five years of Fortran
| author = J A N Lee
| format = pdf
| format = pdf
| accessdate = 2012-03-27}}</ref>
| accessdate = 2012-03-27}}</ref>
Computer users nowadays may not realise the severe technical constraints which applied to programming in the mid 1950's. Modern personal computers have the entire central processing unit on a single chip (integrated circuit), have main memories (RAM) containing many hundred of millions of bytes, and have processing speeds of several million instructions per second. The IBM 704 computer (fairly advanced for its time) had a central processor made up of many thousands of electronic valves (each the size of a light bulb), had a main memory of only four thousand 36-bit words, and had a processing speed of perhaps forty thousand instructions per second (modern mobile phones are more powerful than this).
Computer users nowadays may not realise the severe technical constraints which applied to programming in the mid 1950's. Modern personal computers have the entire central processing unit on a single chip (integrated circuit), have main memories (RAM) containing many hundred of millions of bytes, and have processing speeds of several million instructions per second. The IBM 704 computer (fairly advanced for its time) had a central processor made up of many thousands of electronic valves (each the size of a light bulb), had a main memory of only four thousand 36-bit words, and had a processing speed of perhaps forty thousand instructions per second (modern mobile phones are more powerful than this).
Most compilers in the 1950's and 1960's were written in low-level assembly languages; there wasn't much choice at that time since the computer hardware wasn't capable of supporting compilers written in high-level languages. The use of high-level languages for writing compilers became more mainstream with the advent of Pascal in 1970<ref>{{Cite web | title=Pascal-P: The portable Pascal compiler | url=http://www.moorecad.com/standardpascal/PascalP.html | accessdate=2012-03-31}}</ref> and C between 1969 and 1973.<ref>{{Cite web | title=The Development of the C Language | url=http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/who/dmr/chist.html | accessdate=2012-03-31}}</ref>
Most compilers in the 1950's and 1960's were written in low-level assembly languages; there wasn't much choice at that time since the computer hardware wasn't capable of supporting compilers written in high-level languages. The use of high-level languages for writing compilers became more mainstream with the advent of Pascal in 1970<ref>{{Cite web
| title = Pascal-P: The portable Pascal compiler
| url = http://www.moorecad.com/standardpascal/PascalP.html
| accessdate = 2012-03-31}}</ref> and C between 1969 and 1973.<ref>{{Cite web
| title = The Development of the C Language
| author = Dennis M. Ritchie
| url = http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/who/dmr/chist.html
| accessdate=2012-03-31}}</ref>
Some compilers are written in the language which they translate (self-hosting), though some sort of bootstrapping process is needed to get the first version of such a compiler working. The first self-hosting compiler was for Lisp in 1962.<ref>{{Cite web | title=AI Memo 39-The new compiler| author=Tim Hart and Mike Levin | url=ftp://publications.ai.mit.edu/ai-publications/pdf/AIM-039.pdf | accessdate=2012-03-29}}</ref> Both the Pascal and C compilers mentioned above are self-hosting.
Some compilers are written in the language which they translate (self-hosting), though some sort of bootstrapping process is needed to get the first version of such a compiler working. The first self-hosting compiler was for Lisp in 1962.<ref>{{Cite web
| title = AI Memo 39-The new compiler
| author = Tim Hart and Mike Levin
| url = ftp://publications.ai.mit.edu/ai-publications/pdf/AIM-039.pdf
| accessdate=2012-03-29}}</ref> Both the Pascal and C compilers mentioned above are self-hosting.
==Outline of the compilation process==
==Outline of the compilation process==