A Compiler Writing Journey • Hacker News Board

Re: A Compiler Writing Journey

#11

Post by maltyxxx » Wed, Mar 25, 2026, 11:46 AM UTC

[flagged]

Re: A Compiler Writing Journey

#12

Post by skyfantom » Wed, Mar 25, 2026, 1:40 PM UTC

This hopefully can be useful as well https://space4links.com/r/writing-a-compiler

Re: A Compiler Writing Journey

#13

Post by Muhammad523 » Wed, Mar 25, 2026, 2:26 PM UTC

brcmthrowaway wrote: post #3

How much of Claude was used?

Why must there always be a random guy on HN randomly mentioning Claude?

Re: A Compiler Writing Journey

#14

Post by Muhammad523 » Wed, Mar 25, 2026, 2:27 PM UTC

I feel like interpreters and compilers were trendy in 2015/2016, bu i'm too young to know. Am i right?

Re: A Compiler Writing Journey

#15

Post by mzs » Wed, Mar 25, 2026, 2:47 PM UTC

"Part 64: Self-compilation on an 8-bit CPU"

Unlike how a bunch of projects end right as they start to get good, this has a great ending. Thank you

Re: A Compiler Writing Journey

#16

Post by cxr » Wed, Mar 25, 2026, 2:54 PM UTC

maltyxxx wrote: post #11

[flagged]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47340079>

Re: A Compiler Writing Journey

#17

Post by cxr » Wed, Mar 25, 2026, 3:01 PM UTC

(2020)

Previously:

12 comments; 156 points. 2022 November 29. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33788013>

67 comments; 484 points. 2020 January 8. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21968420>

Re: A Compiler Writing Journey

#18

Post by MisterTea » Wed, Mar 25, 2026, 4:01 PM UTC

parallax_error wrote: post #2

Very cool! I can’t imagine writing everything in C, I’m currently learning this in OCaml which seems nicer for a project like this.

> I can’t imagine writing everything in C

I will say that C is a perfect low level language for bootstrapping more complex systems and languages. If I were building a bootstrap compiler I would write it in C and have it emit C. Specifically C89/99 ONLY with no POSIX/GNU deps. that will guarantee a large swath of compiler and system support out of the box.

Re: A Compiler Writing Journey

#19

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Mar 25, 2026, 8:34 PM UTC

MisterTea wrote: post #18

parallax_error wrote: post #2

Very cool! I can’t imagine writing everything in C, I’m currently learning this in OCaml which seems nicer for a project like this.

> I can’t imagine writing everything in C I will say that C is a perfect low level language for bootstrapping more complex systems and languages. If I were building a bootstrap compiler I would write it in C and have it emit C. Specifically C89/99 ONLY with no POSIX/GNU deps. that will guarantee a large swath of compiler and system support out of the box.

[deleted]

Re: A Compiler Writing Journey

#20

Post by zar1048576 » Sat, Mar 28, 2026, 6:55 AM UTC

MisterTea wrote: post #18

parallax_error wrote: post #2

Very cool! I can’t imagine writing everything in C, I’m currently learning this in OCaml which seems nicer for a project like this.

> I can’t imagine writing everything in C I will say that C is a perfect low level language for bootstrapping more complex systems and languages. If I were building a bootstrap compiler I would write it in C and have it emit C. Specifically C89/99 ONLY with no POSIX/GNU deps. that will guarantee a large swath of compiler and system support out of the box.

+1