how to start writing a very simple programming language [duplicate]

Question

Recently, I was going around looking for ideas on what I can build using C this summer and I came across this post: Interesting project to learn C?

Implement a programming language. This doesn't have to be terribly hard - I did the language that must not be named - but it will force you to learn a lot of the important parts of C. If you don't want to write a lexer and/or parser yourself, you can use lex/flex and yacc/bison, but if you plan on that you might want to start with a somewhat smaller project.

I was kinda intrigued about the implementing a programming language answer and I'm wondering how do I go about starting this? I've gone through the whole K&R book and I've done some of the exercises as well. I also have a bit of experience in C++ and Java if that matters. Any tips? Thanks!

Answer 1

I'd start with a simple desk calculator program that can read things like:

5 + 10 * 3

and print the answer. Then you can progress it to add variables, control flow, even functions.

Answer 2

Can I just say, I have seen many people asking questions like "How do I make a programming language?" or "How hard is it to make a programming language" and most of the answers just tell them that you have to go through years of university and read books that are 1000 pages long. I am here to tell everyone that you may post those answers, but it doesn't help them at all in their journey to make a programming language. I am 16 and have been doing programming for almost 2 years and I write programming languages. Quite advanced object orientated ones as well, but I haven't read any books, no have I done 8 years of university. To get people started, here's a simple programming language written in C#:

string code = "print Hello World";
foreach (string a in code.Split('\n'))
{
    if (a.StartsWith("print "))
    {
        Console.WriteLine(a.Substring(6));
    }
}

anyone who knows basic C# should be able to understand this. You can't start making programming languages without having some programming experience. Make sure you learn a programming language and make sure you know a lot about it, then just start writing simple little bits of code, like I've posted, and with experimentation and practice, you'll start writing some complex programming languages in no time :)