

Writing a language in 15 minutes - ionfish
http://blog.jcoglan.com/2009/05/19/talk-writing-a-language-in-15-minutes/

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adatta02
I didn't actually watch the whole video but eh do we _really_ need to keep re-
inventing the wheel so that there can be yet another [insert language]
interpreter?

Scheme has a natural tree structure to exploit anyhow, show me a C++
interpreter in 15 minutes and I'll be impressed ;)

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stcredzero
_eh do we really need to keep re-inventing the wheel so that there can be yet
another [insert language] interpreter?_

As an exercise, yes! If you've tinkered with the insides of something, it
often makes you a better user of it. If you've written a compiler for a
language with arrays, you'll understand what's going on with things like a[5]
and 5[a] in C. You'll understand calling conventions and have a good feel for
what it costs for language X to call language Y. You'll see how stacks are
used to implement things like lexical scoping.

Maybe I'm preaching to the choir. But if I am, then let other people have the
fun too! They should be congratulated.

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reginaldo
I agree. As (the genius) Richard Feynmann stated, "What I cannot create, I do
not understand". Reinventing the wheel can be a very illuminating thing,if you
choose carefully what wheels to reinvent.

