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I know this book has been praised before on HN, but I've been personally a bit disappointed. It's suitable for someone with no very little knowledge on the topi

I know this book has been praised before on HN, but I've been personally a bit disappointed. It's suitable for someone with no very little knowledge on the topic, but it doesn't really cover any advanced topic.

atan2 2y ago
I trust that you're correct, but I'm glad that this is the case. There are books designed to be introductory, and there are books that serve as reference for advanced topics and state-of-the-art techniques. The first type can often serve as an enabler for the second type.
- phatskat 2y ago
  I’m personally very excited for this book. When I would get programming books at the library as a youth, it would be a gamble as to “introductory or advanced?” and I needed the former way more. “3D Rendering in X Windows” wasn’t great at for me at 13, and getting into topics like this takes a solid foundation.
lolinder 2y ago
It's generally a good idea to judge a book by its explicitly expressed audience, where applicable. In this case Bob made his audience very clear in the first few paragraphs of the book [0]: > It’s the book I wish I’d had when I first started getting into languages, and it’s the book I’ve been writing in my head for nearly a decade. > In these pages, we will walk step-by-step through two complete interpreters for a full-featured language. I assume this is your first foray into languages, so I’ll cover each concept and line of code you need to build a complete, usable, fast language implementation. > In order to cram two full implementations inside one book without it turning into a doorstop, this text is lighter on theory than others. It sounds to me like you picked up the wrong book, skipped the introduction, and then were disappointed that it wasn't directed at you. The good news is that it is free, so you aren't actually out anything but time. [0] http://craftinginterpreters.com/introduction.html http://craftinginterpreters.com/introduction.html
linhns 2y ago
Because it’s meant to be for those people

atan2 2y ago

I trust that you're correct, but I'm glad that this is the case. There are books designed to be introductory, and there are books that serve as reference for advanced topics and state-of-the-art techniques. The first type can often serve as an enabler for the second type.

phatskat 2y ago
I’m personally very excited for this book. When I would get programming books at the library as a youth, it would be a gamble as to “introductory or advanced?” and I needed the former way more. “3D Rendering in X Windows” wasn’t great at for me at 13, and getting into topics like this takes a solid foundation.

lolinder 2y ago

It's generally a good idea to judge a book by its explicitly expressed audience, where applicable. In this case Bob made his audience very clear in the first few paragraphs of the book [0]: > It’s the book I wish I’d had when I first started getting into languages, and it’s the book I’ve been writing in my head for nearly a decade. > In these pages, we will walk step-by-step through two complete interpreters for a full-featured language. I assume this is your first foray into languages, so I’ll cover each concept and line of code you need to build a complete, usable, fast language implementation. > In order to cram two full implementations inside one book without it turning into a doorstop, this text is lighter on theory than others. It sounds to me like you picked up the wrong book, skipped the introduction, and then were disappointed that it wasn't directed at you. The good news is that it is free, so you aren't actually out anything but time. [0] http://craftinginterpreters.com/introduction.html http://craftinginterpreters.com/introduction.html

linhns 2y ago

Because it’s meant to be for those people