Writing a simple compiler is easy.
I wrote a compiler for a toy language as part of an undergraduate CS class.
There are even tools, like YACC (Yet Another Compiler Compiler), to do some of the heavy lifting for you.
YACC creates the parser—the part of the compiler that “understands” the source code..
Although I absolutely don't regret taking the compilers course, it was the toughest I ever had.
Most CSci courses either had significant theory that had to be learned, or lots of programming, not both.
Compilers had both..
A sufficient understanding of computers is impossible without learning how compilers and their parts work.
It is like stepping into the computer's mind and seeing how it feels from the inside.
Compilers are also some of the most satisfying programs to write..
In 1951, Grace Hopper wrote the first compiler, A-0 (www.byte.com).
A compiler is a program that turns the language's statements into 0's and 1's for the computer to understand..
