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Build Your Own Programming Language

You're reading from   Build Your Own Programming Language A programmer's guide to designing compilers, interpreters, and DSLs for modern computing problems

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Product type Paperback
Published in Jan 2024
Publisher Packt
ISBN-13 9781804618028
Length 556 pages
Edition 2nd Edition
Languages
Tools
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Author (1):
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Clinton  L. Jeffery Clinton L. Jeffery
Author Profile Icon Clinton L. Jeffery
Clinton L. Jeffery
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Table of Contents (27) Chapters Close

Preface 1. Section I: Programming Language Frontends
2. Why Build Another Programming Language? FREE CHAPTER 3. Programming Language Design 4. Scanning Source Code 5. Parsing 6. Syntax Trees 7. Section II: Syntax Tree Traversals
8. Symbol Tables 9. Checking Base Types 10. Checking Types on Arrays, Method Calls, and Structure Accesses 11. Intermediate Code Generation 12. Syntax Coloring in an IDE 13. Section III: Code Generation and Runtime Systems
14. Preprocessors and Transpilers 15. Bytecode Interpreters 16. Generating Bytecode 17. Native Code Generation 18. Implementing Operators and Built-In Functions 19. Domain Control Structures 20. Garbage Collection 21. Final Thoughts 22. Section IV: Appendix
23. Answers
24. Other Books You May Enjoy
25. Index
Appendix: Unicon Essentials

Motivations for writing your own programming language

Sure, some programming language inventors are rock stars of computer science, such as Dennis Ritchie or Guido van Rossum! Becoming a rock star in computer science was easier back in the previous century. In 1993, I heard the following report from an attendee of the second ACM History of Programming Languages Conference: “The consensus was that the field of programming languages is dead. All the important languages have been invented already. This was proven wildly wrong a year or two later when Java hit the scene, and perhaps a dozen times since then when important languages such as Go emerged. After a mere six decades, it would be unwise to claim our field is mature and that there’s nothing new to invent that might make you famous.

In any case, celebrity is a bad reason to build a programming language. The chances of acquiring fame or fortune from your programming language invention are slim. Curiosity and a desire to know how things work are valid reasons, so long as you’ve got the time and inclination, but perhaps the best reason to build your own programming language is necessity.

Some folks need to build a new language, or a new implementation of an existing programming language, to target a new processor or compete with a rival company. If that’s not you, then perhaps you’ve looked at the best languages (and compilers or interpreters) available for some domain that you are developing programs for, and they are missing some key features for what you are doing, and those missing features are causing you pain. This is the stuff Master’s theses and PhD dissertations are made of. Every once in a blue moon, someone comes up with a whole new style of computing for which a new programming paradigm requires a new language.

While we are discussing your motivations for building a language, let’s also talk about the different kinds of languages, how they are organized, and the examples this book will use to guide you.

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Build Your Own Programming Language - Second Edition
Published in: Jan 2024
Publisher: Packt
ISBN-13: 9781804618028
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