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FAWK: LLMs can write a language interpreter

(martin.janiczek.cz)
207 points todsacerdoti | 3 comments | 21 Nov 25 10:28 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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keepamovin ◴[21 Nov 25 11:09 UTC] No.46003360[source]▶
Yes! I'm currently using copilot + antigravity to implement a language with ergonomic syntax and semantics that lowers cleanly to machine code targeting multiple platforms, with a focus on safety, determinism, auditability and fail-fast bugs. It's more work than I thought but the LLMs are very capable.

I was dreaming of a JS to machine code, but then thought, why not just start from scratch and have what I want? It's a lot of fun.

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lionkor ◴[21 Nov 25 11:37 UTC] No.46003545[source]▶
Curious why you do this with AI instead of just writing it yourself?

You should be able to whip up a Lexer, Parser and compiler with a couple weeks of time.

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My_Name ◴[21 Nov 25 12:08 UTC] No.46003757[source]▶
Because he did it in a day, not a few weeks.

If I want to go from Bristol to Swindon, I could walk there in about 12 hours. It's totally possible to do it by foot. Or I could use a car and be there in an hour. There and back, with a full work day in-between done, in a day. Using the tool doesn't change what you can do, it speeds up getting the end result.

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andsoitis ◴[21 Nov 25 13:40 UTC] No.46004497[source]▶
If you could also automate away the reason for being in Swindon in the first place, would you still go?
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1. thunky ◴[21 Nov 25 13:57 UTC] No.46004662[source]▶
The only reason for going to Swindon was to walk there?

If so then of course you still should go.

But the point making of a computer program usually isn't for "the walk".

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2. andsoitis ◴[21 Nov 25 16:24 UTC] No.46005915[source]▶
If you can automated away the reason for being at the destination, then there's no point in automating the way to get to the destination.

similar for automating creating an interpreter with nicer programming language features in order to build an app more easily when you can just automate creation of the app in the first place.

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3. int_19h ◴[21 Nov 25 19:29 UTC] No.46008001[source]▶
"Because it's a shiny toy that I want to play with" is a perfectly valid reason that still applies here. The invalid assumption in your premise is that people either enjoy coding or don't. The truth is that they enjoy coding some things but not others, and those preferences are very subjective.