Bootstrapping (computing)
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For other uses of "bootstrapping", see bootstrapping.
In computing, bootstrapping refers to the start up process a computer uses to load the operating instructions. The process can be complicated because the hardware can only execute instructions from ROM or RAM and having large amounts of ROM adds to cost. The ROM or BIOS is typically small except for an embedded system so only a small set of instructions can be executed. The smaller programs load larger programs from external memory devices and then execute the loaded instructions.
The term is believed to have entered computer jargon during the early 1950s by way of Heinlein's short story By His Bootstraps first published in 1941.[citation needed]
