Advice for writing my own compiler? (programming.dev)

submitted 1 year ago by swordsmanluke@programming.dev to c/programming_languages@programming.dev

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I want to make my programming language! ...for fun.

I've been reading LLVM's own tutorial, which is really good. I'm curious though, for those of you who have written your own languages before... What do you wish you had known before you set out?

In terms of previous experience, I have written a really basic lexer and parser for a non-executable markup language I designed. Now I'm curious about the next level. I have some ideas for a language design I'd like to try out. The language features themselves are nothing new - I'm sure some other language out there has done these things and done it better. That's fine! I just want to better understand how all this stuff hangs together.

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[-] TheTrueLinuxDev@programming.dev 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I definitely recommends that you start learning about the LL(k), LALR, and perhaps even Earley Parser algorithms. I am assuming you have picked up a little bit on LL(1) parser and some basic lexer, so mastering the parser algorithms are basically the next stop for you.

Once you get the grasp of those things, you are well on your way to designing a programming language.

this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2023

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Programming Languages

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