I wrote a working compiler (learning type exercise level) effectively in pseudo-code resembling Java once because I didn't know the syntax very well, then comme

I wrote a working compiler (learning type exercise level) effectively in pseudo-code resembling Java once because I didn't know the syntax very well, then commented it all out and translated it to Java line by line. Surprisingly, it had no bugs that I ever knew of. It definitely freed me up to think purely about the logic. You might just throw down whatever and let the next compile/interpretation cycle let you know if you didn't get the syntax right.