IMHO, every software developer should go through the mental process of learning how to write a parser or how to build a compiler. The key is understanding the common patterns found across language implementations. It makes you better as a programmer! When I meet people at parties or whatever, if they ask me what I do, I tell them that I design programming languages and implement the compilers and tools, and it is surprising the number of times people -- professional programmers, mind you -- say "wow, I never thought about it, but yeah, someone has to design those things".
Languages are designed like any other product: by carefully making a series of tradeoffs amongst competing possibilities. The compilers and tools are built like any other professional software product: by breaking the problem down, writing one line of code at a time, and then testing the heck out of the resulting program. I was looking out for a book about creating a programming language that was not too dense, got to the point and was free of excess jargon.
The book did not disappoint me, and will not disappoint any programmer with interests in language applications. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Learn how to create a simple programming language in a few days with this easy step-by-step guide.
Get A Copy. More Details Edition Language. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Nov 03, Michael rated it really liked it Shelves: programming.
Synopsis: Create Your Own Programming Language by Marc-Andre Cournoyer is a guide on — surprise — creating your own programming language, consisting of a 53 page PDF, exercises and solutions, a toy language written in Ruby and a more full-featured one hosted on the JVM.
Some of his notable projects include th Synopsis: Create Your Own Programming Language by Marc-Andre Cournoyer is a guide on — surprise — creating your own programming language, consisting of a 53 page PDF, exercises and solutions, a toy language written in Ruby and a more full-featured one hosted on the JVM.
Some of his notable projects include the web server Thin, the Ruby interpreter tinyrb and the web site Refactor My Code. He also co-founded a company and is now CTO of another one. After the introduction, all chapters follow the same basic structure. Chapters finish with small exercises, e.
In the end there are some parting thoughts on topics like homoiconicity and self-hosting, as well as a resources section including pointers to events, forums, blogs and notable languages. Once you came this far you can dive into the JVM language and experiment with extending it. Summary: Would I recommend this book? That depends on what you are looking for. If you want a detailed academic text, Create Your Own Programming language is definitely not for you.
Mar 30, Mark Ryall rated it liked it. Pretty overpriced considering this is a some sample code and a short book. Having said that, it is an excellent brief introduction to lexers, parsers and language runtime - more than enough to create a simple toy interpreter. There was a long and silly hacker news thread about this book. Obviously this is not the dragon book or SICP - it is just a brief and well executed demystification of what's involved in creating a simple programming language.
Mar 13, Pouya Kary rated it it was amazing. If it wasn't for this book I could have never developed my own language Arendelle. What is with this book is that well it gives you faith. I mean I've started to read many books in which proofed to be useless as they was complex and scary for a kid that age, however this book helped me see the true point of a complier and made me able to start writing languages.
I know I have read many other books after it, but this was the book that made me read the other books. So I love it and recommend it to If it wasn't for this book I could have never developed my own language Arendelle.
So I love it and recommend it to anyone. Jun 21, Raju is currently reading it. This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Oct 27, Kher Yee rated it it was amazing. A hands on introduction to creating a programming language that works. Oct 01, Philip added it. Disclaimer: It's very hard to read this book on Kindle. It's a good book for those who never read about the internals of a programming language.
The book explains things like lexers and parsers, and even teach how to build a virtual machine. All that using Ruby!
Apr 05, Emil Manvelyan added it. Fernando Mumbach rated it liked it May 18, Sunny rated it liked it Aug 09,
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