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Compilers: Incrementally and Extensibly (2024)

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143 points todsacerdoti | 1 comments | 05 Apr 25 12:55 UTC | HN request time: 0.201s | source
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nate_martin ◴[05 Apr 25 16:05 UTC] No.43594464[source]▶
>The compiler itself is to be developed in OCaml.

These seems like a misstep that I've seen in a few other compiler implementation courses. For some reason these programming language professors always insist on completing the project in their personal favorite language (Haskell, OCaml, Standard ML, etc).

As a student this makes the project significantly more difficult. Instead of just learning how to implement a complier, you're also learning a new (and likely difficult) programming language.

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1. mattgreenrocks ◴[05 Apr 25 16:54 UTC] No.43594821[source]▶
Algebraic data types are superb for compilers. Case exhaustiveness checks are really helpful in this domain, especially when doing any sort of semantic analysis.

Frankly, I try to avoid languages that don’t have ADTs as much as possible. They are incredibly useful for specifying invariants via your design, and their constraints on inputs lend themselves to easier implementation and maintenance.