标签：#interpreters

Programming languages are fascinating. Learning how they work shouldn’t feel like fighting a dragon. On Monday, August 3, 2026, I’m launching Tiny Interpreters , a new blog and newsletter about learning how programming languages work, one tiny interpeter at a time. We’ll begin by building the interpreters in Elm, one language feature at a time. It’s for Elm developers, functional programmers, and anyone curious about programming languages who would rather begin with something small and understandable than confront an entire compiler at once. Each interpreter will introduce one carefully chosen idea and follow it through the language’s design and implementation. We’ll build up our understanding gradually, allowing the deeper ideas to emerge from programs we can see, run, and reason about. Tiny Interpreters is the path into programming languages I wish I could have followed when I first tried to learn the subject. It took me years—and one unsuccessful encounter with a dragon—to find that path for myself. My first encounter with the dragon I became interested in programming languages when I discovered that studying, designing, and building them brought together several fields I enjoyed: mathematics, computer science, and software development. My university didn't offer a course in programming languages or compiler construction while I was there, so I had to explore the subject on my own. A professor whose opinion I respected pointed me towards Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools , better known as the Dragon Book—the textbook the university had used when it still offered the compilers course. I ordered a copy through the university bookstore. When it arrived, I eagerly began working through it, but I didn't get very far. I learned a great deal about parsing and syntax-directed translation, but I still lacked a clear framework for understanding how programming language features were designed, implemented, and made to work together. In hindsight, the Dragon Book