1. bootstrap 1. system> From "to pull oneself up by ones bootstraps" To load and initialise the operating system on a computer. Normally abbreviated to "boot". See bootstrap loader. 2. From "to pull oneself up by ones bootstraps" to use a compiler to compile itself. The usual process is to write an interpreter for a language, L, in an existing language, M. The compiler is then written in L and the interpreter is used to run it. This produces an executable for compiling programs in L from the source of the compiler in L. This technique is often used to verify the correctness of a compiler. It was first used in the LISP community. See also my favourite toy language. 27 November 1995 bootstrap loader system> from "bootstrap" or "to pull oneself up by ones bootstraps" A short program that was read in from cards or paper tape, or toggled in from the front panel switches, which read in a more complex program to which it gave control. On early computers the bootstrap loader was always very short great efforts were expended on making it short in order to minimise the labour and chance of error involved in toggling it in, but was just smart enough to read in a slightly more complex program usually from a card or paper tape reader, to which it handed control; this program in turn was smart enough to read the application or operating system from a magnetic tape drive or disk drive. Thus, in successive steps, the computer "pulled itself up by its bootstraps" to a useful operating state. Nowadays the bootstrap is usually found in ROM or EPROM, and reads the first stage in from a fixed location on the disk, called the "boot block". When this program gains control, it is powerful enough to load the actual OS and hand control over to it. See boot. 27 November 1995 boot virus An MS-DOS virus that infects the boot record program on hard disks and floppy disks or the master boot record on hard disks. The virus gets loaded into memory before MS-DOS and takes control of the computer, infecting any floppy disks subsequently accessed. An infected boot disk may stop the computer starting up at all. 2. a strap that is looped and sewn to the top of a boot for pulling it on
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