Author here. I agree! That was one of the projects from the original project list that I posted a year ago (https://web.eecs.utk.edu/~azh/blog/challengingprojects.html).

In fact, this summer I wrote a 3-part tutorial series on implementing a BASIC compiler: Let's make a Teeny Tiny compiler (https://web.eecs.utk.edu/~azh/blog/teenytinycompiler1.html)