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“C or gcc” is like “Chicken or the egg” ? :(

if the visual c++ debugger is the tool for debugging a running program, what debugs the debugger while it's developed? Chicken Egg dilemma ? How did they debug Visual C++ Debugger ?

Community
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Moaz ELdeen
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They use the previous known good build of the debugger to debug it. This is like how the Visual C++ compiler is written in Visual C++- they use VC++9 to develop VC++10. This kind of tool bootstrapping isn't unusual.

Puppy
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    Probably so simple they didn't really need a debugger. – Puppy Sep 22 '12 at 14:45
  • I used an in-house developed 1.0 C compiler for the TI-9900 chip for a commercial product. The compiler was developed and ran on the VAX/VMS using DEC's C-compiler (yes, the TI compiler was written in C), but the compiler targeted a TI-9900 based micro computer. You will probably need to ask K&R how the first, first C compiler was developed. – franji1 Sep 22 '12 at 16:03
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    @franji - The first C compiler was written using the B compiler they had written earlier. Seriously! ;-) – Bo Persson Sep 22 '12 at 17:25