Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Writing an Interpreter in Go: The Paperback Edition

thorstenball.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–78 of 78 posts

Re: Writing an Interpreter in Go: The Paperback Edition

#71

Post by jnbiche »

doh wrote: post #36
misternugget wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently read a comment (I think it might have been on HN, but I can't find it) that said something like this: if you recently learned/mastered a topic, you're in a far better position to teach that topic than an expert, who's so deep into it, that they can't understand the beginners. I wish I could find the source for this, because it was much better put, but that comment contains the gist of my motivation behind…

This applies to anything that we as human do, including doctors [0]. Younger doctors that are just out of a residency are more up to date about medical science and have the facts in a fresh memory. [0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15710959

> Younger doctors that are just out of a residency are more up to date about medical science and have the facts in a fresh memory.

Perhaps, but they often have not yet built up the muscle memory needed to manipulate instruments as skillfully as more experienced doctors, nor the knowledge needed to know how to handle unusual situations, both of which are particularly important for surgeons[0,1].

0. http://journals.lww.com/annalsofsurgery/pages/articleviewer....

1. http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamasurgery/fullarticle/4061...

Re: Writing an Interpreter in Go: The Paperback Edition

#73

Post by jalfresi »

staticassertion wrote: post #46

I bought this book and I've been using it - but I'm writing the interpreter in Rust instead of Go. I really like it, and I think Go is actually a cool language for this due to its simplicity. I had very little Go experience but the language is drop dead boring, incredibly easy to pick up. I'd recommend it.

"... the language is drop dead boring"

I LOVE boring

Re: Writing an Interpreter in Go: The Paperback Edition

#74

Post by Jun8 »

zerr wrote: post #10

It is becoming quite popular (or maybe it was always the case?) that someone learning some topic and at the same time writing a book about it. Interesting how it affects the quality of the content (versus books authored by persons with expertise in given topics).

"You teach best what you most need to learn."

Re: Writing an Interpreter in Go: The Paperback Edition

#75

Post by zerr »

jalfresi wrote: post #73
staticassertion wrote: post #46

I bought this book and I've been using it - but I'm writing the interpreter in Rust instead of Go. I really like it, and I think Go is actually a cool language for this due to its simplicity. I had very little Go experience but the language is drop dead boring, incredibly easy to pick up. I'd recommend it.

"... the language is drop dead boring" I LOVE boring

"A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing."

Re: Writing an Interpreter in Go: The Paperback Edition

#76

Post by doh »

jnbiche wrote: post #71
doh wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This applies to anything that we as human do, including doctors [0]. Younger doctors that are just out of a residency are more up to date about medical science and have the facts in a fresh memory. [0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15710959

> Younger doctors that are just out of a residency are more up to date about medical science and have the facts in a fresh memory. Perhaps, but they often have not yet built up the muscle memory needed to manipulate instruments as skillfully as more experienced doctors, nor the knowledge needed to know how to handle unusual situations, both of which are particularly important for surgeons[0,1]. 0. http://journals.lww…

True. You get some, you lose some.

Re: Writing an Interpreter in Go: The Paperback Edition

#77

Post by staticassertion »

pselbert wrote: post #70
staticassertion wrote: post #46

I bought this book and I've been using it - but I'm writing the interpreter in Rust instead of Go. I really like it, and I think Go is actually a cool language for this due to its simplicity. I had very little Go experience but the language is drop dead boring, incredibly easy to pick up. I'd recommend it.

Funny, I did the exact same thing! Tried to push learning Rust via the Go examples. It has been a great exercise, but highlighted the pain of dealing with various string representations in Rust.

I'm used to it I guess. Got &'a str all over my code.

Re: Writing an Interpreter in Go: The Paperback Edition

#78

Post by staticassertion »

zerr wrote: post #75
jalfresi wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"... the language is drop dead boring" I LOVE boring

"A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing."

I would say that while Go is boring, it is worth learning. It may not be anything too new or interesting but it'll likely change how you think about programming at least a bit - concurrency and error handling in Go are particularly accessible while still being different enough to change how you think about the concepts.

I say that as someone who really isn't a fan of the language.

Post reply on HN