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In computing, bootstrapping (from an old expression "to pull oneself up by one's bootstraps") is a technique by which a simple computer program activates a more complicated system of programs. In the start up process of a computer system, a small program such as BIOS, initializes and tests that hardware, peripherals and external memory devices are connected, then loads a program from one of them and passes control to it, thus allowing loading of larger programs, such as an operating system.
A different use of the term bootstrapping is to use a compiler to compile itself, by first writing a small part of a compiler of a new programming language in an existing language to compile more programs of the new compiler written in the new language. This solves the "chicken and egg" causality dilemma.
For the historical origins of the term bootstrapping, see Bootstrapping.