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Comment by hnthrowaway0328 | Hacker News Reader

Getting an alpha version done in two days is a pretty mighty accomplishment. Congratulationa!

I have been working on a learning project to produce an interpreter of a sub set of Python written in Python (most arithmetic ops, assignment ops, if-elif-else, while-break, function calls) and it took me about 2 months to complete it in my free time.

I wish I could be more focused and motivated.

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Thanks! It was coded fast because I reused parts of my IntyBASIC compiler like the lexer, the expression analyzer, and the decision statements core (GOTO/GOSUB/WHILE/WEND etc). The first version of IntyBASIC took me almost two months to be ready.

I think you are too harsh on yourself.

Doing a compiler from scratch is a serious task.

The guy had the experience of another Basic compiler and it may even had previous experience from other compiler projects.

I once implemented an interpreter for a custom DSL that had only boolean logic (and, or) and parenthesis precedence. It took me one week but then again I was totally green in the field.

I mean, OP is a legend; we mere mortals shouldn't really compare ourselves to them :)

My stuff is not nearly as impressive as what Toledo, Carmack, or Bellard do, but honestly, how many people can claim theirs is?

for which platform?

My interpreter? Oh it's just a simple frontend. My plan is to first convert it to an ast tree walker, and then add a backend for some vintage platform. I am also thinking about generating llvm IR as it makes it trivial for the backends.

I knew nothing about compiler theory so it took me way too much time to implement break and function call correctly.

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