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I was thinking of building my own LISP-like language, but seeing so many pop up on here I don't think I'll bother.

by billpg 5y ago

jstx1 5y ago
You probably should anyway - most of it is for learning and personal satisfaction. It's not like any of these projects are competing for actual marketshare in the programming language landscape.
tonyg 5y ago
Try building a Smalltalk-like language. It throws a different set of concerns into relief, and besides, it's a better design.
pjmlp 5y ago
Millions of CS students build their own language for compiler classes every year. As learning exercise of everything that goes into making a compiler/interpreter is very worthwhile endevour. As means to make the next big thing, maybe not.
- brabel 5y ago
  > Millions of CS students... Are there millions of CS students in the world?? I would guess a few hundred thousand, at most.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - pjmlp 5y ago
    Might be, I don't have the numbers. > A figure of speech is a deviation from the ordinary use of words in order to increase their effectiveness. Basically, it is a figurative language that may consist of a single word or phrase. It may be a simile, a metaphor or personification to convey the meaning other than the literal meaning. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_of_speech https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_of_speech
  - kortex 5y ago
    Probably. There's 20-30ish million software developers in the world [1]. People work for 30-50 years, suggesting at least a million freshman CS students a year. It's a rapidly growing field. Plus all the lifetime learners. It's not unreasonable to estimate at least 2M CS students worldwide write or work on a compiler each year. Maybe a tad high, but also it's an idiom. https://www.daxx.com/blog/development-trends/number-software-developers-world https://www.daxx.com/blog/development-trends/number-software...
    - robertlagrant 5y ago
      I have no actual opinion here. Just stopping by to point out that not (nearly) all software developers started as CS students.
      - kortex 5y ago
        Of course, I don't mean to imply that all software developers went to school for cs, or went to school at all. Just doing a Fermi estimation.
fsloth 5y ago
As stated by others, it's a very enjoyable exercise. Think about it like Marathon for programmers. Yes, lot's of people run marathons. But people usually don't go "Maybe I should run a marathon - but so many others are doing it. Meh, maybe not."

I was thinking of building my own LISP-like language, but seeing so many pop up on here I don't think I'll bother.

by billpg 5y ago

I was thinking of building my own LISP-like language, but seeing so many pop up on here I don't think I'll bother.

You probably should anyway - most of it is for learning and personal satisfaction. It's not like any of these projects are competing for actual marketshare in the programming language landscape.

tonyg 5y ago

Try building a Smalltalk-like language. It throws a different set of concerns into relief, and besides, it's a better design.

pjmlp 5y ago

Millions of CS students build their own language for compiler classes every year. As learning exercise of everything that goes into making a compiler/interpreter is very worthwhile endevour. As means to make the next big thing, maybe not.

brabel 5y ago
> Millions of CS students... Are there millions of CS students in the world?? I would guess a few hundred thousand, at most.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- pjmlp 5y ago
  Might be, I don't have the numbers. > A figure of speech is a deviation from the ordinary use of words in order to increase their effectiveness. Basically, it is a figurative language that may consist of a single word or phrase. It may be a simile, a metaphor or personification to convey the meaning other than the literal meaning. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_of_speech https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_of_speech
- kortex 5y ago
  Probably. There's 20-30ish million software developers in the world [1]. People work for 30-50 years, suggesting at least a million freshman CS students a year. It's a rapidly growing field. Plus all the lifetime learners. It's not unreasonable to estimate at least 2M CS students worldwide write or work on a compiler each year. Maybe a tad high, but also it's an idiom. https://www.daxx.com/blog/development-trends/number-software-developers-world https://www.daxx.com/blog/development-trends/number-software...
  - robertlagrant 5y ago
    I have no actual opinion here. Just stopping by to point out that not (nearly) all software developers started as CS students.
    - kortex 5y ago
      Of course, I don't mean to imply that all software developers went to school for cs, or went to school at all. Just doing a Fermi estimation.

fsloth 5y ago

As stated by others, it's a very enjoyable exercise. Think about it like Marathon for programmers. Yes, lot's of people run marathons. But people usually don't go "Maybe I should run a marathon - but so many others are doing it. Meh, maybe not."