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how to start writing a very simple programming language

Asked 2010-06-09T17:46:41.357
21

Recently, I was going around looking for ideas on what I can build using C this summer and I came across this post: Interesting project to learn C?

Implement a programming language. This doesn't have to be terribly hard - I did the language that must not be named - but it will force you to learn a lot of the important parts of C. If you don't want to write a lexer and/or parser yourself, you can use lex/flex and yacc/bison, but if you plan on that you might want to start with a somewhat smaller project.

I was kinda intrigued about the implementing a programming language answer and I'm wondering how do I go about starting this? I've gone through the whole K&R book and I've done some of the exercises as well. I also have a bit of experience in C++ and Java if that matters. Any tips? Thanks!

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2 Answers

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Scheme from Scratch is a nice series of blog posts about implementing Scheme in C. The code is very readable, and each version builds on the previous one in a way that's easy to follow.

Here is the first installment: v0.1 - Integers.

answered 2010-06-09T22:37:11.117
0

Let someone else do the dirty work for you, namely, the lexer and the parser. Use cup, yacc, or bison to handle the syntax. This will let you focus on the more important language design decisions. There are even example parser definitions for many languages that you can use as a template for yours.

answered 2010-08-25T02:21:14.947

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