4 ms·

MRI is the first language interpreter that I got deeply familiar with and it's a pleasure to read. It was really nice to be able to find the answer to question

MRI is the first language interpreter that I got deeply familiar with and it's a pleasure to read. It was really nice to be able to find the answer to questions like "how does Ruby decide when to trigger a thread switch" by spending just a few minutes going to the source.

pat_shaughnessy 14y ago
Absolutely - it is a pleasure to read. Someday I'd like to learn how another language is implemented, maybe JavaScript or something like Haskell, but I'm afraid the language source code will be much more difficult to understand than Ruby's is.
- dysoco 14y ago
  You can maybe start with a Scheme parser, it's quite simple.
  - pat_shaughnessy 14y ago
    Interesting idea - thanks for the suggestion!
    - pimeys 14y ago
      SICP - chapter 4. http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-25.html#%_chap_4 http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-25.html... One of the best chapters in any book I've ever read. So mindblowing. Or if you prefer the video form, here: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-001-structure-and-interpretation-of-computer-programs-spring-2005/video-lectures/7a-metacircular-evaluator-part-1/ http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-comput... http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-001-structure-and-interpretation-of-computer-programs-spring-2005/video-lectures/7b-metacircular-evaluator-part-2/ http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-comput...
      - pat_shaughnessy 14y ago
        Yup, (re)reading SICP is definitely on my list!
- 1337p337 14y ago
  Once you can read some C, I'd recommend reading over another bytecode interpreter, like mawk (Mike's AWK): http://invisible-island.net/mawk/ http://invisible-island.net/mawk/ . Another good read is the TinyCC compiler (originally by Fabrice Bellard, who did QEMU among other things): http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/tinycc http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/tinycc . It's a small, mostly readable, fully functional C compiler.
  - pat_shaughnessy 14y ago
    Awesome links - thank you!
- gtani 14y ago
  GHC (haskell compiler) is very well documented: http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Research_papers/Compilation http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Research_papers/Compilati... http://www.scs.stanford.edu/11au-cs240h/notes/ghc-slides.html#%287%29 http://www.scs.stanford.edu/11au-cs240h/notes/ghc-slides.htm... http://www.aosabook.org/en/ghc.html http://www.aosabook.org/en/ghc.html appendix: http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~amc4/Papers/thesis.pdf http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~amc4/Papers/thesis.pdf

pat_shaughnessy 14y ago

Absolutely - it is a pleasure to read. Someday I'd like to learn how another language is implemented, maybe JavaScript or something like Haskell, but I'm afraid the language source code will be much more difficult to understand than Ruby's is.

dysoco 14y ago
You can maybe start with a Scheme parser, it's quite simple.
- pat_shaughnessy 14y ago
  Interesting idea - thanks for the suggestion!
  - pimeys 14y ago
    SICP - chapter 4. http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-25.html#%_chap_4 http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book-Z-H-25.html... One of the best chapters in any book I've ever read. So mindblowing. Or if you prefer the video form, here: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-001-structure-and-interpretation-of-computer-programs-spring-2005/video-lectures/7a-metacircular-evaluator-part-1/ http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-comput... http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-001-structure-and-interpretation-of-computer-programs-spring-2005/video-lectures/7b-metacircular-evaluator-part-2/ http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-comput...
    - pat_shaughnessy 14y ago
      Yup, (re)reading SICP is definitely on my list!
1337p337 14y ago
Once you can read some C, I'd recommend reading over another bytecode interpreter, like mawk (Mike's AWK): http://invisible-island.net/mawk/ http://invisible-island.net/mawk/ . Another good read is the TinyCC compiler (originally by Fabrice Bellard, who did QEMU among other things): http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/tinycc http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/tinycc . It's a small, mostly readable, fully functional C compiler.
- pat_shaughnessy 14y ago
  Awesome links - thank you!
gtani 14y ago
GHC (haskell compiler) is very well documented: http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Research_papers/Compilation http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Research_papers/Compilati... http://www.scs.stanford.edu/11au-cs240h/notes/ghc-slides.html#%287%29 http://www.scs.stanford.edu/11au-cs240h/notes/ghc-slides.htm... http://www.aosabook.org/en/ghc.html http://www.aosabook.org/en/ghc.html appendix: http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~amc4/Papers/thesis.pdf http://www.doc.ic.ac.uk/~amc4/Papers/thesis.pdf