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markdown to HTML converter

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pommicket 2021-09-01 18:27:51 -04:00
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@ -11,14 +11,15 @@ executable, and the last one will be a C compiler. Each directory has its own
README explaining what's going on.
You can run `bootstrap.sh` to run through and test every stage.
To get HTML versions of all README pages, run `make`.
## the basics
In this series, I want to explain *everything* that's going on. I'm going to
need to assume some passing knowledge about computers, but here's a quick
overview of what you'll want to know before starting. I can't explain everything
so you may need to do your own research. You don't need to understand each of
these in full, just get a general idea at least:
need to assume some passing knowledge, so here's a quick overview of what you'll
want to know before starting. I can't explain everything so you may need to do
your own research. You don't need to understand each of these in full, just get
a general idea at least:
- what an operating system is
- what memory is
@ -59,8 +60,8 @@ not right away.
Bootstrapping a compiler is not an easy task, so we're trying to make it as easy
as possible. We don't even necessarily need a standard-compliant C compiler, we
only need enough to compile someone else's C compiler, specifically TCC
(https://bellard.org/tcc/) since that's a compiler with very few dependencies.
only need enough to compile someone else's C compiler, specifically we'll be
using [TCC](https://bellard.org/tcc/) since it's written in standard C89.
- efficiency is not a concern
@ -71,7 +72,7 @@ with itself, we'll get the same executable either way.
## reflections on trusting trust
In 1984, Ken Thompson wrote the well-known article
[*Reflections on Trusting Trust*](http://users.ece.cmu.edu/~ganger/712.fall02/papers/p761-thompson.pdf).
[Reflections on Trusting Trust](http://users.ece.cmu.edu/~ganger/712.fall02/papers/p761-thompson.pdf).
This is one of the things that inspired me to start this project. To summarize
the article: it is possible to create a malicious C compiler which will
replicate its own malicious functionalities (e.g. detecting password-checking