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Yup, I found out how hard it is just writing a simple language that doesn't even need computer tooling: https://dogma-lang.org/ https://dogma-lang.org/ And eve
by kstenerud 4y ago
Yup, I found out how hard it is just writing a simple language that doesn't even need computer tooling: https://dogma-lang.org/ https://dogma-lang.org/
And even with a language as simple as this, it still took 6 months. The biggest problem is keeping the patterns simple and coherent, while avoiding unnecessary features. It pains me to think of the weeks spent developing parts that were ultimately ruthlessly slashed away. Hours spent agonizing over a usage pattern that was mostly the same but different enough that (I thought at the time) it required special constructs... and then not as I thought about it in the shower days or weeks later. It's one hell of an eye opener.
And then there's the type system... UGH.
- packetlost 4y agoThere are languages out there that are more or less designed for rapid prototyping of PLs. Lisps, and in particular, Schemes such as Gerbil and Racket, are particularly well-suited to building languages. Yes, you have to get used to the prefix notation and (((((((, but ultimately it lets you have a lot of flexibility in testing out language constructs and usage-patterns before you build the parser, lexer, etc. that are time consuming.