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/r/ProgrammingLanguages Reading List

This is a list of valuable resources for programming language design and implementation.

If contributing, add your resource to the appropriate section, give a short description and appropriate credit. Keep sections in alphabetical order.

Online resources

Start-to-finish tutorials

  • Build Your Own Lisp by Daniel Holden

    A book that serves both as a tutorial on C and writing a Lisp interpreter.

  • Crafting Interpreters by Bob Nystrom (/u/munificent)

    A book about writing interpreters by Bob Nystrom of Game Programming Patterns fame. Very comprehensive, includes code both in Java and C.

  • Let's Build a Compiler by Jack Crenshaw

    An old (1988-1995), non-technical series about writing a simple compiler in Turbo Pascal. Like most books on this topic, most of the knowledge contained within is still relevant today, though.

Compiler architecture

Language design

  • Rosetta Code

    Collects solutions to the same problem in as many different programming languages as possible. Helpful for seeing how other languages handle certain tasks, and getting a better idea of what your syntax will be like.

Virtual Machine design

  • So You Want to Build a Language VM by Fletcher Haynes

    A series of articles detailing how to build a register VM in Rust. A part 0 covering some of hardware basics - like what's an assembler, a register, etc. - is also available.

Books

General compiler implementation

  • Compiler Design and Construction - Arthur Pyster

    Guides the reader through implementing a Pascal compiler, explaining both the technical and practical details.

  • Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools - Alfred V. Aho, Monica S. Lam, Ravi Sethi, and Jeffrey D. Ullman

    The Dragon Book. Classic text, but much is outdated, and a beginner won't be able to tell which. There's more modern and approachable books, such as:

  • Engineering a Compiler - Keith Cooper, Linda Torczon

    In-depth treatment of algorithms and techniques used in a modern compiler, focused on code optimization and generation, with examples from multiple languages.

  • Modern Compiler Design - Dick Grune, Ceriel Jacobs, Koen G. Langendoen, Kees van Reeuwijk, Henri Bal

    Often recommended as the more up-to-date and approachable alternative to the dragon book; along with it and Engineering a Compiler, the "holy trinity" of compiler implementation books.

  • Modern Compiler Implementation in ML - Andrew W. Appel

    A complete walkthrough and discussion of implementing a robust, feature-rich compiler in ML; there's also Java and C translations.

Software, Frameworks