A cross compiler is a compiler capable of creating executable code for a platform other than the one on which the compiler is running. For example, a compiler that runs on a windows but generates code that runs on Android is a cross compiler.
bootstrapping is the process of writing a compiler in the source prog. lang.that it intends to compile the programs in the source language.
If one needs to obtain a compiler for language X (which is written in language X), there is the issue of how the first compiler can be written (Chicken and Egg problem ).
- Implementing an interpretor or compiler for language X in language Y. Niklaus Wirth reported that he wrote the first Pascal compiler in Fortran