DaWei

The first thing you need to do before attempting to write your own language is to learn what a language is and does. As someone mentioned in another thread, you aren't going to design a new and better carburetor if all you've ever done is put gas in your car. I mean, think. Get real.

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Abstraction doesn't make it impossible to write bad code; it makes it possible to write superior code.
Contributor's Corner: Grumpy on C++ Exceptions DaWei on Pointers

Infinite Recursion

@coldDeath - Could you elaborate on this for me? "Fedora has been f*cked with by Redhat."

You can do anything you put your mind to, however, the point at which you start and the knowledge you have that you are basing your foundation on is what makes or breaks your attempt.

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http://jasonpowers.net

"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root."

coldDeath

Ask the guys over at #programmingforums who tried to help me with it. We found about 10 bad things with it.

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SittingDuck

I'm writing my own compiler, too.

One way to do it is to compile it into assembly language. Alternatively, like what I am doing, create machine code directly. For x86, there is a massive document available somewhere at intel.com that describes instruction formats and all the instructions, etc. Ask me if you want a link and I'll try to find it for you.

nnxion

http://www.intel.com/design/pentium4.../index_new.htm
Is this what you mean?
By the way, check out cross-compiling.

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"Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for."
-- Socrates

SittingDuck

Yes, the title's correct, but I got the instruction set reference as one document.

Kaja Fumei

You can order the manuals in book form for free from Intel's website. I have them. They're great. Didn't even have to pay shipping.

I agree with the recommendation to make a simple interpreter first. But look up tutorials and source code for making simple four-function calculator programs. Believe it or not, they're a good first step for beginners.

lectricpharaoh

Just one for small apps, eh? Well, you should know that many of the most 'simple' operations, such as getting input from the user, can be tricky.

Then there's the simple matter of parsing the source code. You need to be able to break it down into tokens (individual 'words' of code), check those for basic errors (such as misspellings and such), and create some kind of representation that can be converted to either executable code, or some interim format (such as source code for another compiler or assembler).

If you're actually set on this, I'd recommend writing some basic scripting language instead. Lots of people create custom script languages for their programs. Games which have script-driven AI and events are one example, and 3D modelling programs which have a modelling language are another. With very few exceptions, these sorts of things are interpreted, and of those that are 'compiled', they are often compiled down to some bytecode that is not actually an executable image.
This is not necessarily the case, but it is indeed how some tools operate. For example, GCC uses C source files as input, and generates assembly source files as output, and then feeds those to an assembler to generate the object code, which is then fed to a linker to generate the final executable.

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And once again, Probability proves itself willing to sneak into a back alley and service Drama as would a copper-piece harlot.
- Vaarsuvius, Order of the Stick

teencoder

Listen just because you want to and think you might able doesn't mean you can just jump right in to it. I to want to write my own language and make my own OS. I realize however I have to build up. I still can't get Direct X to work there is no way I could make a programming language. You don't have to write your compiler in assembly in fact the visual languages are written in C++. Just work your way up. If it's about the effort write a cool game in java that should be enough effort.

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Geeks may not be cool now but in the long run they prosper.

SittingDuck

http://webster.cs.ucr.edu/AsmTools/RollYourOwn/

From here you can download a load of PDFs that form a "compiler theory documentation". Read it! It's a bit long, but it's what I've been looking for. The author's page is:
http://www.scifac.ru.ac.za/compilers/

Yes, the source must be broken down into tokens. But then these tokens must be parsed into syntactical structures. Usually a syntax tree is made. The syntax tree is then checked (semantic checker), mostly this comprises type checking. From this tree intermediate code is generated (optional for small compilers but v. useful), optimized and converted to the code of the target machine.

I'm learning a lot!