Ask HN: Guidance on writing a source to source compiler (transpiler)
I would like to learn to write a transpiler from scratch. Where would I get started?
Preferably something that doesn't involve going though big projects to read the source code.
Preferably something that doesn't involve going though big projects to read the source code.
1. Tokenize
2. Build AST tree
3. Emit target code from the AST tree
1. Tokenize
2. Build AST tree
3. Create a simple intermediate language from the AST tree
4. Emit target code from the intermediate language
https://github.com/jamiebuilds/the-super-tiny-compiler
That converts from lisp-like to javascript. Really though this is a big field, and there are lots of resources out there.
To get started look at your input language; you'll need to lex and parse that. Then massage the parsed structure into the appropriate output.
You can see me convert brainfuck to C, or x86 assembly language here:
https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/screencasts/catalog/a-com...
Really easy to understand, even if Ruby is not your main language. The video is about compiling from a tiny Ruby-like language[1] into real JavaScript.
[1]: It's only a single, simple function, but the concepts are well explained and it should be easy to build on top of that.