If you're interested in getting started with interpreters, which are easier, you might want to look into Daniel Holden's excellent Build Your Own Lisp (And Lear

If you're interested in getting started with interpreters, which are easier, you might want to look into Daniel Holden's excellent Build Your Own Lisp (And Learn C). Although it has been criticized for many reasons, it's a great book, and if you find interpreters and compilers totally magic, it's a good place to start. Also, after reading What every compiler writer should know about programmers, I finally understand why people hate C. Because this just shows definitively that C compiler writers have been in their own little world for the past few decades. Man, now I want a C compiler that wasn't written by a bunch of mindless jerks that will be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes...