3 ms·

Ask HN: Beginner non-trivial transpiler projects to learn from?

7 points by kesava 6y ago

I have some compilers background and would like to study beginner non-trivial transpiler source code. Any recommendations?

HackedBunny 6y ago
These might be too far off the beaten track for you, being non-standard languages with full game library systems, but Mark Sibly's Monkey2 (discontinued for lack of support) is a complex transpiler project written in a very read-friendly language: https://github.com/blitz-research/monkey2/tree/develop/src/mx2cc https://github.com/blitz-research/monkey2/tree/develop/src/m... ... and one of his previous languages, BlitzMax, is continued by others today as BlitzMaxNG, and it uses a frequently-updated transpiler based off the former/similar Monkey language: https://github.com/bmx-ng/bcc https://github.com/bmx-ng/bcc Again, easy to read, and the principles are the same for almost any language. Downloadable distros: https://blitzresearch.itch.io/monkey2 https://blitzresearch.itch.io/monkey2 https://blitzmax.org/ https://blitzmax.org/ Targets include Windows x86/64, Mac, Linux, Android and HTML5... among others!
max_ 6y ago
You may want to have a look at an "MVP" compiler one of such projects is The Super Tiny Compiler[0] [0]https://github.com/jamiebuilds/the-super-tiny-compiler https://github.com/jamiebuilds/the-super-tiny-compiler
quickthrower2 6y ago
I knocked something up. It might be a bit too trivial but I’ll let you judge: https://github.com/mcapodici/badlanguage https://github.com/mcapodici/badlanguage
- kesava 6y ago
  thank you! Having scheme/lisp on either end of transpilation seems like a good beginner project to learn from.
  - quickthrower2 6y ago
    He he when looking at it, be critical because I knocked this up. A pro haskeller could probably find a few flaws in it and the JS generated code will not be performant!
Const-me 6y ago
Take a look there: https://github.com/Const-me/vis_avs_dx/tree/master/avs_dx/DxVisuals/Expressions https://github.com/Const-me/vis_avs_dx/tree/master/avs_dx/Dx... Couple test cases: https://github.com/Const-me/vis_avs_dx/blob/master/avs_dx/CompilerTest/CompilerTest.cpp https://github.com/Const-me/vis_avs_dx/blob/master/avs_dx/Co... The transpiler is in C++/17. The source language is something called NSEEL, implemented in Winamp couple decades ago. The original runtime was a JIT into old-school x87 code. The target language is Microsoft HLSL, specifically it’s for shader model 5 for Direct3D 11.0. I have little to no background with compiler development, but IMO my transpiler ain’t too bad, and it’s very efficient.

7 points by kesava 6y ago

I have some compilers background and would like to study beginner non-trivial transpiler source code. Any recommendations?

HackedBunny 6y ago

These might be too far off the beaten track for you, being non-standard languages with full game library systems, but Mark Sibly's Monkey2 (discontinued for lack of support) is a complex transpiler project written in a very read-friendly language: https://github.com/blitz-research/monkey2/tree/develop/src/mx2cc https://github.com/blitz-research/monkey2/tree/develop/src/m... ... and one of his previous languages, BlitzMax, is continued by others today as BlitzMaxNG, and it uses a frequently-updated transpiler based off the former/similar Monkey language: https://github.com/bmx-ng/bcc https://github.com/bmx-ng/bcc Again, easy to read, and the principles are the same for almost any language. Downloadable distros: https://blitzresearch.itch.io/monkey2 https://blitzresearch.itch.io/monkey2 https://blitzmax.org/ https://blitzmax.org/ Targets include Windows x86/64, Mac, Linux, Android and HTML5... among others!

max_ 6y ago

You may want to have a look at an "MVP" compiler one of such projects is The Super Tiny Compiler[0] [0]https://github.com/jamiebuilds/the-super-tiny-compiler https://github.com/jamiebuilds/the-super-tiny-compiler

quickthrower2 6y ago

I knocked something up. It might be a bit too trivial but I’ll let you judge: https://github.com/mcapodici/badlanguage https://github.com/mcapodici/badlanguage

kesava 6y ago
thank you! Having scheme/lisp on either end of transpilation seems like a good beginner project to learn from.
- quickthrower2 6y ago
  He he when looking at it, be critical because I knocked this up. A pro haskeller could probably find a few flaws in it and the JS generated code will not be performant!

Const-me 6y ago

Take a look there: https://github.com/Const-me/vis_avs_dx/tree/master/avs_dx/DxVisuals/Expressions https://github.com/Const-me/vis_avs_dx/tree/master/avs_dx/Dx... Couple test cases: https://github.com/Const-me/vis_avs_dx/blob/master/avs_dx/CompilerTest/CompilerTest.cpp https://github.com/Const-me/vis_avs_dx/blob/master/avs_dx/Co... The transpiler is in C++/17. The source language is something called NSEEL, implemented in Winamp couple decades ago. The original runtime was a JIT into old-school x87 code. The target language is Microsoft HLSL, specifically it’s for shader model 5 for Direct3D 11.0. I have little to no background with compiler development, but IMO my transpiler ain’t too bad, and it’s very efficient.