Develop a new programming language

[cygnusX]

Can you give me some links to articles describing the developing process of a programming language?Yeah,i'm talking about development of programming language.I searched Google but didn't find almost anything about this topic.After design phase(syntax,keywords,flow control...) obviosly i have to write compiler for the language.I've searched in the net and found some examples of writing compiler,it was written in C.Does it matter in which language will be written?

[twalters84]

Hey there,

I do not really have an easy answer for you, but I know it will involve a lot of hard work and dedication.

In my opinion, Java is the leading programming language for the web with C++ close behind.

How would you improve upon these languages?

Sincerely,
Travis Walters

[WingedPanther]

Bjarne Stroustrup has a book out on how he designed C++. It would probably be a good read.

[mahogny]

language theory can be divided roughly into:
1. practical use and software engineering
2. theoretical foundations

for 1, have a look at java, C#, python and ruby at the minimum. add some functional programming if you want cutting edge features.

as for 2, you need to read. sorry. there is a lot of thought in more recent languages that is not apparent to users. this will not show up until you write compilers and need to reason about the code, but never the less, it is of outmost importance if you want speed and guarantees of properties. many of these things are sorted under "language semantics" and "type theory". beware that these subjects are Very theoretical and figuring out what conclusions actually matter will take a while.

[Kaabi]

Originally Posted by WingedPanther

Bjarne Stroustrup has a book out on how he designed C++. It would probably be a good read.

That would be a very interesting book to read. My friend once tried to create a programming language. Almost did it, too, but there wasn't really a point to it and it was a lot of work so... it was scrapped.

[mahogny]

probably a book that would do more bad than good. the technology it describes is over 30 years old, and from an OO perspective the language was out of date already when it was made. it's a compromise to keep C compatibility. if you want to make a new language, at least get some modern literature.

[TcM]

Lol.. I would not care to make a new programming language, there are too many out there!

[mahogny]

Originally Posted by TheComputerMaster

Lol.. I would not care to make a new programming language, there are too many out there!

it'd clearly be for learning purposes unless you know what you are doing. most languages, including the main stream ones, are crap though. a requirement to get a language in is to at least make it possible to link it with existing languages. targeting the JVM is a good idea.

[TkTech]

Compiler? haha, your already thinking 10 steps ahead. You can't even start a compiler till you have a parser.

Lookup the source code for TinyCC, which is an insanely great, incredibly minimal C compiler. Before you even try your own language make one for another language thats proven its worth. (c or asm would be easiest here, c++ and c# have alot of runtime components)
Also, interpreted language example:
davidtattersall.me.uk | write your own programming language