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Key benefits

Reduce development time and solve pain points in your application domain by building a custom programming language

Learn how to create parsers, code generators, file readers, analyzers, and interpreters

Create an alternative to frameworks and libraries to solve domain-specific problems

Description

The need for different types of computer languages is growing rapidly and developers prefer creating domain-specific languages for solving specific application domain problems. Building your own programming language has its advantages. It can be your antidote to the ever-increasing size and complexity of software. In this book, you’ll start with implementing the frontend of a compiler for your language, including a lexical analyzer and parser. The book covers a series of traversals of syntax trees, culminating with code generation for a bytecode virtual machine. Moving ahead, you’ll learn how domain-specific language features are often best represented by operators and functions that are built into the language, rather than library functions. We’ll conclude with how to implement garbage collection, including reference counting and mark-and-sweep garbage collection. Throughout the book, Dr. Jeffery weaves in his experience of building the Unicon programming language to give better context to the concepts where relevant examples are provided in both Unicon and Java so that you can follow the code of your choice of either a very high-level language with advanced features, or a mainstream language. By the end of this book, you’ll be able to build and deploy your own domain-specific languages, capable of compiling and running programs.

Who is this book for?

This book is for software developers interested in the idea of inventing their own language or developing a domain-specific language. Computer science students taking compiler construction courses will also find this book highly useful as a practical guide to language implementation to supplement more theoretical textbooks. Intermediate-level knowledge and experience working with a high-level language such as Java or the C++ language are expected to help you get the most out of this book.

What you will learn

Perform requirements analysis for the new language and design language syntax and semantics

Write lexical and context-free grammar rules for common expressions and control structures

Develop a scanner that reads source code and generate a parser that checks syntax

Build key data structures in a compiler and use your compiler to build a syntax-coloring code editor

Implement a bytecode interpreter and run bytecode generated by your compiler

Write tree traversals that insert information into the syntax tree

Implement garbage collection in your language

What do you get with eBook?

Instant access to your Digital eBook purchase

Download this book in EPUB and PDF formats

Access this title in our online reader with advanced features

DRM FREE - Read whenever, wherever and however you want

AI Assistant (beta) to help accelerate your learning

Frequently bought together

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Total $ 204.97

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Amazon verified reviews

saba shabir Sep 29, 2022

Helped me get a A in my exams

Amazon Verified review

Phillip Feb 11, 2022

Build Your Own Programming Language: beyond its detailed and thoughtful discussion of how to build compilers, this book demonstrates and evaluates the tools needed to construct a computer language. Simultaneously evaluating Unicon and Java -- both their advantages and sometimes awkwardnesses -- the book gives guidance on strategies and skills necessary to handle common problems encountered in advanced programming tasks.

Sudarshan Gaikaiwari Mar 13, 2024

Knowing how compilers work is critical for all software engineers. This book has all the information that you would learn at a research university. It also includes an implementation of a complete compiler. This allows the reader to have access to an implementation to modify the code and experiment. Highly recommended for anyone interested in learning more about compilers

Kenneth R. Walker Mar 21, 2022

The book explains compiler writing in an elegant manner. Code examples accommodate the content exceptionally. Excellent place to start learning how to write a programming language.

Greg Jeffery Feb 06, 2022

I’m still reading through the book but I believe this would be a very good compliment textbook for a Compilers class.

Build Your Own Programming Language: A programmer's guide to designing compilers, interpreters, and DSLs for solving modern computing problems

What do you get with eBook?