System bootstrap

This section describes how to get to a running ABCL instance when you don't already have one to create a new one.

Java bootstrap

You don't need a running ABCL or other Common Lisp implementation to end up with a fully capable ABCL system - contrary to some other Common Lisp implementations.

The ABCL system achieves this by implementing a number of required components in Java, which are then used to bootstrap the Lisp-to-JVM compiler. After the compiler is available, all Lisp code is compiled to JVM byte code.

The components implemented in Java to bootstrap the Lisp system and JVM compiler include (non-limitatively, because I need more insight):

• A Lisp interpreter (which is required anyway just for the fun of EVAL)
• Several Common Lisp building blocks, such as
  • PATHNAMEs,
  • HASH-TABLEs,
  • Conditions,
  • Streams,
  • VECTORs and
  • ARRAYs

The components required for this bootstrap process are:

• The Ant Java build environment
• A source tree for ABCL
• A JDK version 1.5+

Basically, that's it... !