00mjk/write-you-a-programming-language

List of small programming languages that you can implement in a relatively small amount of time for educational purposes.

Write you a programming language

List of small programming languages that you can implement in a relatively small amount of time for educational purposes. Read my blogpost about this list.

Tutorials

Host	Language	Type	Target	Features
(many)	Lisp (MAL)	Interpreter	-	TCO, macros, bootstrapping
Assembly	Forth	Compiler
C	C	Interpreter	-	no parser generator, bootstrapping
C	LBaC	Compiler	x86
C	C(SubC)	Compiler	Assembly
C (not free book)	C(SubC)	Compiler	x86-64	It can compile itself and passes gcc -Wall -pedantic
C (online book)	Lisp	Interpreter	-	macros
C	Lisp	Interpreter	-	macros, TCO, continuations, GC
C	Scheme	Interpreter	-
C++	Kaleidoscope	Compiler, Interpreter	LLVM	procedural language that allows you to define functions, use conditionals, math, JIT
C++, Flex, Bison	C-like	Compiler	LLVM
Go	C(SubC)	Compiler	x86-64	It can compile itself and passes gcc -Wall -pedantic
Haskell, parsec	Kaleidoscope	Compiler	LLVM	procedural language that allows you to define functions, use conditionals, math, JIT
Haskell, Parsec (online book)	Scheme	Interpreter	-
Haskell, Parsec	Scheme	Interpreter	-
Haskell	LBaC	Compiler
Haskell	MiniAgda
Idris	TinyIdris			typechecking, evaluation, unification (video)
Java	Enkel	Compiler	JVM
Java (online book)	Lox	Interpreter	-
JavaScript	λanguage	Compiler	JavaScript
JavaScript	Lisp	Interpreter	-	The code is 116 lines
OCaml	Lisp	Interpreter	-
OCaml	C	Compiler	x86
Python	Lisp	Interpreter	-	Lisp interpreter in 90 lines of Python
Python	Python	Interpreter	-	Python interpreter fits easily into the 500-line size restriction
Python		Interpreter	-
Python	Lisp	Interpreter	-
Racket (online book)
Ruby		Compiler
Ruby	Markdown	Compiler	HTML
Ruby	Ruby	Compiler
Scheme	Scheme	Interpreter	-	First-class (run-time) macros and meta-circular evaluation
Scheme	Scheme	Compiler	C	Compiling Scheme to C with closure conversion
Scheme	Scheme	Compiler	Java
Scheme	Scheme	Compiler	Lambda Calc
Swift	Lisp	Interpreter	-
Turbo Pascal 4.0	LBaC	Compiler	x8086
TypeScript		Compiler	WebAssembly
🚧 C	Lisp	Compiler
🚧 Haskell	Haskell(fun)

Toy languages

Toy languages, or mini languages, or tiny languages come with code but don't have explanations (unlike tutorials). So you are on your own.

Host	Language	Type	Target	Features
C	Lisp	Interpreter	-	GC
C	Scheme	Interpreter	-	GC
C	TCL	Interpreter	-	a Tcl interpreter in 550 lines of C code
C	Lisp	Interpreter	-	Lisp In Less Than 200 Lines Of C
C++	Lisp	Interpreter	-	interpreter in 90 lines of C++
Haskell, parsec	Haskell(Duet)	Interpreter	-	type classes, non-strict, but is not lazy
Idris	minihaskell	Interpreter	-	lazy, functional, integers, booleans, lists, recursion, statically typed
JavaScript, babylon	JavaScript	Interpreter	-
OCaml, menhir	miniml	Compiler, Interpreter	Abstract	eager, functional, recursive functions, statically typed, compiler, abstract machine
OCaml, menhir	miniml_error	Compiler, Interpreter	Abstract	like miniml that can also abort execution
OCaml, menhir	minihaskell	Interpreter	-	lazy, functional, integers, booleans, lists, recursion, statically typed
OCaml, menhir	miniprolog	Interpreter	-	logic programming, Horn clauses, unification
OCaml, menhir	levy	Interpreter	-	call-by-push value, statically typed
OCaml, menhir	comm	Compiler	Abstract	a simple procedural langauge
OCaml, menhir	calc	Interpreter	-	integer arithmetic
OCaml, menhir	sub	Interpreter	-	an eager purely functional language, mutable records, statically typed, subtyping
OCaml, menhir	boa	Interpreter	-	object-oriented, eager, first-class functions, dynamic types, extensible objects
OCaml, menhir	lambda	Interpreter	-	untyped λ-calculus, several evaluation strategies
OCaml, menhir	poly	Interpreter	-	lazy, functional, statically typed, parametric polymorphism, type inference
OCaml, menhir	poly	Interpreter	-	lazy, functional, statically typed, parametric polymorphism, type inference

See also:

• A Bestiary of Single-File Implementations of Programming Languages

Type systems

• Cubiml is a simple ML-like programming language with subtyping and full type inference. You can try it out online in your browser here. Cubiml is not intended to be used in its own right, but rather to serve as a tutorial for implementing cubic biunification, and therefore has a deliberately minimal feature set.
• Tiny OutsideIn(X). This is a simple reference implementation of OutsideIn(X) type inference algorithm.
• Elaboration zoo. This repo includes a series of Haskell implementations for elaborating dependently typed languages, where packages add progressively more power and functionality. Currently, packages focus on basics of unification, inference and implicit argument handling, and we don't have any inductive types or modules (yet).

Courses & Books

• Utah Compilers, Spring 2011
• Programming languages and paradigms lecture
• Programming languages
• An Incremental Approach to Compiler Construction by Abdulaziz Ghuloum. Writing a Compiler in 24 Small Steps.
• A Simple Scheme Compiler
• CS 4410/6410: Compiler Design

Related

• awesome-compilers: tutorials
• Build your own Programming Language
• Programming languages resources
• nanopass. Clean Compiler Creation Language
• Bril: A Compiler Intermediate Representation for Learning

Quotes

Most likely you will find one of those quotes in tutorials

If you don't know how compilers work, then you don't know how computers work.

-- Steve Yegge

If you can’t explain something in simple terms, you don’t understand it

-- Somebody smart

Dr. Hoenikker used to say that any scientist who couldn't explain to an eight-year-old what he was doing was a charlatan.

-- Kurt Vonnegut, Cat's Cradle (said by Dr. Asa Breed; chapter 15)

What I cannot create, I do not understand.

-- Richard Feynman