Re: Interpreter design

nr@labrador.eecs.harvard.edu (Norman Ramsey)
26 Jan 2001 16:45:30 -0500

          From comp.compilers
Related articles
[5 earlier articles]
Re: Interpreter design gsc@zip.com.au (Sean Case) (2001-01-19)
Re: Interpreter design gvmt@localhost.vsnl.net.in (Venkatesha Murthy) (2001-01-19)
Re: Interpreter design jcgil@gmv.es (Juan Carlos Gil Montoro) (2001-01-19)
Re: Interpreter design guerby@acm.org (Laurent Guerby) (2001-01-19)
Re: Interpreter design neelk@alum.mit.edu (2001-01-19)
Re: Interpreter design anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (2001-01-20)
Re: Interpreter design nr@labrador.eecs.harvard.edu (2001-01-26)
Re: Interpreter design sdm7g@minsky.med.virginia.edu (Steven D. Majewski) (2001-02-01)
| List of all articles for this month |
From: nr@labrador.eecs.harvard.edu (Norman Ramsey)
Newsgroups: comp.compilers
Date: 26 Jan 2001 16:45:30 -0500
Organization: Harvard University
References: 01-01-059 01-01-115
Keywords: books, interpreter
Posted-Date: 26 Jan 2001 16:45:29 EST

Laurent Guerby <guerby@acm.org> wrote:
>I found "Programming Languages An Interpreter-Based Approach" by
>Samuel N. Kamin, Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-06824-9 very interesting
>on this topic since it covers, imperative, functional, object and
>logic interpreters by "patching" a basic interpreter. Unfortunately it
>looks like it is out of print (I got mine from a used book sale).


I have been hard at work on a second edition. If you would like to
review a draft, please let me know.


I will point out that the interpreters work directly on the syntax of
the programs (concrete syntax in the 1st edition, abstract syntax in
the 2nd). This is a very good strategy for understanding the
semantics of the programming languages, which after all is the object
of the exercise. It is not such a great way to get the last ounce of
performance out of the interpreter, however. So, if you want to
experiment with language design, it might be a nice book to start
with. If you want to build *fast* interpreters, you should look
around for additional techniques.
--
Norman Ramsey
http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~nr

Post a followup to this message

Return to the comp.compilers page.
Search the comp.compilers archives again.