Want to get started - would like to write a simple interpreter

I'm 28, have been programming since I was 14, am in the tail end of my
junior year as a CS major... but I've never really encountered the
material necessary to learning how to write my own interpreter or
compiler. (A class I'm taking now is about 'generic' theory of how
programming languages work, and though it's applicable here, it
doesn't have any practical, hands-on stuff.)


I want to write an interpreter for a very simple language. (A personal
project that you might find silly if I actually told you what it was
for.) If I wanted to write just a compiler, I'd buy the dragon book
(despite it's hefty price), but I'm not sure how useful this'd be.
I've got a book called WRITING INTERACTIVE COMPILERS AND INTERPRETERS,
by P. Brown (1979) but it's nearly all theory with no practical
examples. (I don't want an interactive interpreter... this is kind of
a scripting language.)


Can anyone give me some pointers on where to find the kind of
information I want? Will a book on compilers help me to write an
interpreter? (There are tons of interpreters out there... why does
there seem to be so little literature?)


Thanks in advance.
[Compilers and interpreters have a lot in common, so compiler books will help,
but you're right, there's surprisingly little written on interpreter building.
-John]


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