HPR4296: Crafting Interpreters

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Crafting Interpreter

Hello, this is iota speaking.

Today I would like to talk about the book "Crafting Interpreters" by Robert Nystrom. I have a passion for interpreters and compilers for a long time, and always like to write one. But I never succeed. I read a lot of books about interpreters and compilers but never able to finish it.

Crafting Interpreters is the first book I read cover to cover, and understand it, and I am able to follow through all the coding and build an interpreter as well as a compiler. It is amazing!

The first half of the book is to build a tree-walking interpreter in Java. The 2nd half of the book is to build a bytecode compiler in C. Both of them are for a programming language the author called lox. L-O-X.

The book is smart because it is based on generic Java and C code, and does not specify any IDE or make file to use. You will have to figure out that yourself. That may sound like a hurdle but in fact it is a blessing. That makes the code in the book very portable.

The author has a way to explain compiler concepts in an interesting way. The bytecode compiler in the 2nd half of the book implements the following features: virtual machine, closure, class and methods, garbage collector, etc.

The book cover is already very revealing. It is basically a high-level view of the different passes and types of code generation.

You can buy the book in different places, both physical copy or ebook. However, the book is also available for free at craftinginterpreters.com.

I would say this book is a labour of love by the author. Highly recommended.

iota signing off

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