A curated list of awesome resources, learning materials, tools, frameworks, platforms, technologies and source code projects in the field of Compilers, Interpreters and Runtimes. This list has a bias towards education.
- Learning
- Tools and Frameworks
- Compilers and Interpreters
- Runtimes and VMs
- Blogs
- Communities
- Verticals
- Computer Systems: A Programmer’s Perspective, R. Bryant, D. O'Hallaron - Comprehensive treatement of Computer Systems including Compilers, Interpreters and Runtimes.
- Elements of Computing Systems, N. Nisan, S. Schocken - How to build a computer starting with Nand Logic Gates and then move to Machine Code, Assemblers, Compilers and Operating Systems.
- SICP, H. Abelson, G. Sussman - Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs.
- Other editions: HTML5/EPUB version.
- Basics of Compiler Design, T. Mogensen - Short and concise book on the basic concepts behind Compiler Design.
- Beautiful Racket, M. ButÂtÂerÂick - How to make your own Programming Language with Racket.
- Build Your Own Lisp, D. Holden - Learn C and build your own Lisp programming language in 1000 lines of code.
- Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools, A. Aho, M. Lam, R. Sethi, J. Ullman - The infamous Dragons Book, a classic textbook on Compiler Construction.
- Crafting Interpreters, B. Nystrom - Everything you need to learn to build an interpreted, full-featured, efficient scripting language.
- GitHub Repo.
- Discussions: HN.
- Create Your Own Programming Language - Very short book on building your own programming language with video tutorials and source code projects for 3 example programming languages.
- Discussions: HN.
- Engineering a Compiler, K. Cooper, L. Torczon - Modern comprehensive textbook on Compilers Construction. It covers SSA Form and recent research on Machine Code Generation.
- Essentials of Programming Languages, D. Friedman & M. Wand - Fundamental concepts of programming languages with a focus on Semantics, Interpretation and CPS (Continuation Passing Style).
- Language Implementation Patterns, T. Parr - Learn the patterns behind building programming languages and build an interpreter yourself, using ANTLR.
- Modern Compiler Implementation in ML, A. Appel.
- Other editions: MCI in C, MCI in Java.
- Programming Language Pragmatics, M. Scott.
- Programming Languages: Application and Interpretation, S. Krishnamurthi.
- PDF.
- Programming Languages: Theory and Practice.
- Project Oberon, N. Wirth & J. Gutknecht.
- Other editions: 2013 Edition.
- The BEAM Book - Description of the ERTS (Erlang Runtime System) and the BEAM Virtual Machine.
- Virtual Machines, Smith and Nait.
- Virtual Machines, Iain Craig.
- Writing an Interpreter in Go, T. Ball.
- Writing Compilers and Interpreters: A Software Engineering Approach.
- Advanced Compiler Design and Implementation, S. Muchnick.
- Advanced Topics in Types and Programming Languages, B. Pierce.
- A Retargetable C Compiler: Design and Implementation, D. Hanson.
- Building an Optimizing Compiler, B. Morgan.
- Compiling with Continuations, A. Appel.
- Design Concepts in Programming Languages, F. Turbak, D. Gifford, M. Sheldon - also contains some introductory level material.
- Instruction Level Parallelism, A. Aiken, U. Banerjee, A. Kejariwal, A. Nicolau.
- Linkers and Loaders.
- Optimizing Compilers for Modern Architectures, R. Allen & K. Kennedy.
- Parsing Techniques: A Practical Guide.
- The Garbage Collection Handbook: The Art of Automatic Memory Management, R. Jones, A. Hosking, E. Moss.
- The Implemetation of Functional Programming Langauges, S. P. Jones.
- The SSA Book, Springer, Zadeck.
- Types and Programming Languages, B. Pierce.
- Warren's Abstract Machine - Prolog in Haskell, H. Aït-Kaci.
- A Brief History of JIT Compilation, J. Aycock.
- A Flexible Prolog Interpreter in Python, C. Bolz & M. Leuschel.
- A Graph Higher-Order IR, R. Leißa, M. Koster & S. Hack.
- A Micro-Manual for LISP - Not the Whole Truth, J. McCarthy.
- Other editions: Neat and nice typeset.
- A Prolog Interpreter in Python, C. Bolz.
- A Simple Multi-Processor Computer Based on Subleq, O. Mazonka, A. Kolodin.
- An Evil Copy: How the Loader Betrays You - About security issues related to Dynamic Loading.
- An Incremental Approach to Compiler Construction.
- Compiler Construction Using Scheme, E. Hilsdale, J. Ashley, R. Dybvig & D. Friedman.
- Compiling with Continuations: Continued, A. Kennedy.
- Definitional Interpreters for Higher-Order Programming Languages, J. Reynolds.
- Draining the Swamp: Micro Virtual Machines as Solid Foundation for Languauage Development, K. Wang, Y. Lin, S. Blackburn, M. Norrish & A. Hosking.
- Engineering Definitional Interpreters, J. Midtgaard, N. Ramsey, B. Larsen.
- Garbage Collection in an Uncooperative Environment, H. Boehm, M. Weiser.
- Machine Code Obfuscation via Instruction Set Reduction and CFG Linearization, C. Jonischkeit.
MOVis Turing-Complete, S. Dolan.- Nanopass Framework for Commercial Compiler Development, A. Keep & R. Dybvig.
- Nanopass Framework for Compiler Education, D. Sarkar, O. Waddell & R. Dybvig.
- Notes on Graph Algorithms Used in Optimizing Compilers, C. Offner.
- Packrat Parsing Thesis on PEG, B. Ford.
- PEG-based transformer provides front-end, middle-end and back-end stages in a simple Compiler, I. Piumarta.
- Pycket: A Tracing JIT for a Functional Language.
- PyPy’s Approach to VM Construction, A. Rigo & S. Pedroni.
- RABBIT: A Compiler for SCHEME, G. Steele.
- Simple and Efficient Construction of SSA Form.
- SSA-based Register Allocation, S. Hack & G. Goos.
- The Essence of Compiling with Continuations, C. Flanagan, A. Sabry, B. Duba & M. Felleisen.
- The Page-Faults Weird Machine: Lessons in Instruction-less Computation, J. Bangert, S. Bratus, R. Shapiro, S. Smith.
- Trace-based JIT Compilation for Lazy Functional Languages, T. Schilling.
- Using Datalog with Binary Decision Diagrams for Program Analysis, J. Whaley, D. Avots, M. Carbin & M. Lam.
- C. Bolz’s Research Publications.
- Compilers Lab at Saarland University.
- Kenichi Asai.
- Packrat Parsing (PEG) Papers and Resources.
- Compilers Construction, Cambridge - Introduction to compiler construction course from the University of Cambridge.
- Compiler Construction for Undergrads, RICE University - Introduction to compiler construction and language translators course from the RICE University.
- Compilers Theory, Stanford - YouTube, Stanford.edu, Class Notes -Introduction to Compilers theory and construction course from Stanford.
- Design and Construction of Compilers, University of Texas - Design and construction of compilers including lexical analysis, parsing, code generation techniques, error analysis and simple code optimizations.
- DSL Design and Implementation Summer School - Summer School program on the topics of DSL Design and Implementation hosted by the EPFL University.
- Foundations of Programming Languages - Concepts that underlie the design, definition, implementation and use of modern programming languages from a formal standpoint.
- Nand2Tetris: How to Build a Computer from First Principles, Part 2 - This 2nd part of the Nand2Tetris course covers basic language design and elementary compiler construction concepts in addition to many other topics on a basic level.
- NPTEL's Principles of Compiler Design Course - Introductory course from NPTEL on Compiler Design.
- NPTEL's Compiler Design Course - Slightly more advanced course than their Principles of Compiler Design course, covers SSA Form to a good degree.
- Programming Languages: Part A, by Grossman - Part 1 of a 3-part course series to the basic concepts of programming languages, with a strong emphasis on functional programming.
- Programming Languages: Part B, by Grossman - Part 2 of a 3-part course series to the basic concepts of programming languages, with a strong emphasis on functional programming.
- Programming Languages: Part C, by Grossman - Part 3 of a 3-part course series to the basic concepts of programming languages, with a strong emphasis on functional programming.
- Types, Logic, Semantics, and Verification from Oregon University's Summer School - Summer School program that consists of 80 minute lectures presented by internationally recognized leaders in programming languages and formal reasoning research.
- Virtual Machines and Managed Runtimes, UCB CS294 - Introductory course on Virtual Machines and Managed Runtimes from the University of Berkeley.
- Virtual Machines Summer School 2016 (VMSS 2016) - VMSS is a Summer School program that aims to give an overview of the field, targeted at early career researchers.
- Curry On! Conference - Programming Languages Conference.
- Lang.NEXT Conference 2012.
- Lang.NEXT Conference 2014.
- LLVM Developers Meeting YouTube Channel.
- Anders Hejlsberg on Modern Compiler Construction.
- An Introduction to Combinator Compilers and Graph Reduction Machines.
- Building an Interpreter in RPython.
- CPython - A Ten-Hour Codewalk.
- Exploring Python’s Bytecode.
- How to Build a Virtual Machine - Terence Parr gives an idea of the core mechanisms behind virtual machines by building one, in front of your eyes, from scratch. It is the same kind of commercial interpreter he made for Renault cars.
- Java AOT (Ahead of Time) Compilation.
- MetaScala: A Tiny DIY JVM - Metascala is a tiny metacircular Java Virtual Machine (JVM) written in the Scala programming language.
- Meta-Tracing, RPython and PyPy.
- One VM to Rule Them All, One VM to Bind Them - Tutorial on the Truffel technology.
- Programming Should Eat Itself - StrangeLoop Talk on Reflective Programming and Kenichi Asai's Black Programming Language.
- Python, Linkers and Virtual Memory - PYCON US.
- Reverse Engineering the MOS 6502 CPU.
- Single Static Assignment Form Seminar - Introductory seminar on SSA Form, Compiler Optimizations under it and its applications in other areas such as Program Analysis and Verification.
- The JVM (Java Virtual Machine) Architecture.
- The Most Beautiful Program Ever Written - William Byrd on a Lisp interpreter written in 15 lines of Lisp.
- The MoVfuscator: turning mov into a soul crushing RE nightmare.
- The SSA Form - Video Lectures from NPTEL's Compilers Course (see: Courses for more info):
- Type-Driven Development with Idris.
- Understanding Compiler Optimization.
- A Tourist’s Guide to the LLVM Source Code.
- Accidentally Turing Complete.
- Adventures in JIT Compilation by Eli Bendersky:
- ALIVe: Automatic LLVM InstCombine Verifier.
- Graal and Truffel - Obscure research project could radically accelerate innovation in programming language design.
- Discussions: Reddit.
- How to Compile with Continuations.
- Interpreter, Compiler and JIT.
- Introducing the B3 JIT Compiler.
- LLVM Architecture - Chapter from the book Architecture of Open Source Applications.
- LLVM for Graduate Students - Introduction to doing research with the LLVM compiler infrastructure.
- Pratt Parsers: Expression Parsing Made Easy.
- Rust Compiler Walk-Through.
- Rust's Incremental Compilation.
- Rust’s Upcoming MIR.
- The Memory Models that Underlie Programming Languages.
- A Tutorial Implementation of a Dependently Typed Lambda Calculus.
- A Beginner's Guide to Linkers - Tutorial for helping C & C++ programmers understand the essentials of what the linker does.
- Algorithm W Step By Step.
- Building a LISP from scratch with Swift.
- Compiler Optmization Tutorial.
- Hindley-Damas-Milner Tutorial - Extensively documented walkthrough for typechecking a basic functional language using the Hindley-Damas-Milner algorithm.
- How I Wrote a Programming Language, and How You Can Too.
- Discussions: Reddit.
- Implementing a JIT Compiled Language with Haskell and LLVM.
- Kaleidoscope: Implementing a Language with LLVM in Objective Caml.
- Let’s Build A Simple Interpreter.
- Lisperator - How to implement a programming language in JavaScript.
- Little Lisp Interpreter - Interpreter that supports function invocation, lambdas, lets, ifs, numbers, strings, a few library functions, and lists in under 120 lines of JavaScript.
lis.py, v1: (How to Write a (Lisp) Interpreter (in Python)) - Tutorial by Peter Norvig on writing a simple Lisp interpreter.lis.py, v2: An ((Even Better) Lisp) Interpreter (in Python) - Follow-up tutorial by Peter Norvig on makinglis.pyslightly better.- LLVM Tutorial: Implementing Kaleidoscope.
- Metacompiler Tutorial, Part 1.
- Project: A Programming Language - Chapter 11 from the book Eloquent JavaScript, 2nd Edition.
- Write You a Haskell.
- Writing a Language in Truffel - Interpreter development tutorial using Truffel, by Cristian Esquivias.
- Can we stop recommending the Dragon Book, please? - StackExchange thread criticising the Dragons Book in favor of alternatives.
- What is difference between an LL and Recursive Descent parser?.
- Does a compiler use all x86 instructions? - @HN, @Reddit - Article discussions on HN and Reddit.
- How to Write a Compiler - Article discussion on Reddit.
- How to Write a Very Basic Compiler.
- How to Write a Prolog Interpreter in a Purely Functional Language.
- Discussions: Reddit.
- Implementing Type Inference.
- I want to build a VM, any good references?.
- Resources for Amatuer Compilers Writers.
- What are the good open source implementations of Java Virtual Machine?.
- What are the latest research trends in Compilers and PLs.
- B3: The Bare Bones Backend - WebKit's optimizing JIT Compiler for procedures containing C-like code.
- Capstone - Lightweight multi-platform, multi-architecture disassembly framework with bindings to various famous programming languages.
- Keystone - Lightweight multi-platform, multi-architecture assembler framework with bindings to various famous programming languages.
- LLILCL - LLVM-based Compiler Backend for .NET Core.
- LLVM - The LLVM Compiler-Backend Framework.
- MicroVM - The "Mu" Framewrok for Programming Languages development based on the MuVM Specification.
- Movfuscator Compiler - The
M/o/Vfuscatorcompiles programs into "mov" instructions, and only "mov" instructions. - QBE: The Quick Backend - Pure C embeddable SSA-based compiler backend.
- Rubinius - Programming Languages Development Platform.
- Summus - Basic, reusable, compiler-frontend implementation using LLVM as a backend.
- ZetaVM - Multi-Language Platform for Dynamic Programming Languages.
- AsmJIT - Complete x86/x64 JIT and Remote Assembler for C++.
- GCC - The GNU Compiler Collection (C as a Backend).
- LCC - The lcc retargetable ANSI C compiler (C as a Backend).
- libFirm - C-library that provides a graph-based intermediate representation, optimizations, and assembly code generation suitable for use in compilers.
- libJIT - Library for generic Just-In-Time compiler functionality independent of any particular bytecode, language, or runtime.
- myJIT - Library for machine-code generation and execution at run-time.
- OrangeC - Win32 C11/C++2014 compiler and toolchain.
- PCC - The Portable C Compiler (C as a Backend).
- TCC - The Tiny C Compiler (C as a Backend).
- Cecil - Library to generate and inspect programs and libraries in the ECMA CIL format.
- DotNetPELib - Library to read and write .net assemblies in C++11
- ILSpy - .NET Decompiler.
- Reflector - .NET Decompiler.
- Reflexil - Assembly code editor which can be used as a plugin with other .NET/CLR tools.
- dunnart - LALR(1) Parser Generator.
- FancyPars-lite - Fast parser generator.
- libdparse - Library allowing to build lexers and parsers. Contains a lexer and a parser for the D language itself.
- llvm-d - D bindings for LLVM.
- Pegged - design, test and generate parsers for PEG grammars.
- goyacc - YACC Implementation in Go. Standard LALR(1) parser generator.
- LLVM Go binding - Official Go LLVM binding.
- Graal - High-Performance Polyglot Runtime.
- Graal Core - Compiler and Truffel Partial Evaluator.
- Graal VM - Graal's multi-language VM distribution.
- Bound / unbound / unbound-generics - Libraries for manipulating bound variables.
- Hoopl - Higher-order optimization library.
- llvm-general - Haskell bindings for LLVM.
- Parsec / attoparsec / Megaparsec / Trifecta / Alex + Happy - Parsers for every use case.
- wl-pprint-text / ansi-wl-pprint - Walder-style pretty-printing libraries.
- IRHudra - Tool for displaying intermediate representations used by V8 and Dart VM optimizing compilers.
- JISON - Context-free grammar parser generator for JavaScript.
- Nearley - Simple, fast, powerful parser toolkit for JavaScript.
- Ohm - A library and language for building parsers, interpreters, compilers, etc.
- PEG.js - Simple parser generator for JavaScript.
- ANTLR - Parser generator for reading, processing, executing, or translating structured text or binary files.
- BYAAC/J - BYACC/Java is an extension of the Berkeley v 1.8 YACC-compatible parser generator for Java.
- CGLIB - High level API library for generating and transforming Java Byte Code.
- FCP JVM - JVM Backend for generating Java Byte Code that conforms to the JDK v1.5+ Specification and the Dalvik VM.
- JavaCC - Java Compiler Construction and Parser Generator Toolkit.
- JavaCPP Presets for LLVM - Library for easily interacting with the LLVM API.
- JFlex - JFlex is a lexical analyzer generator for Java with full Unicode support.
- JLex - JLex is a lexical analyzer generator, that can be used in combination with CUP.
- The Whimsy Compiler Framework - Compiler framework research project in Kotlin.
- AST - Python's builtin Abstract Syntax Tree package.
- Dis - Python's builtin Disassembler package.
- Parsing - Pure-Python module that implements an LR(1) parser generator, as well as CFSM and GLR parser drivers.
- PLY - Implementation of lex and yacc parsing tools for Python.
- PyParsing - Alternative approach to creating and executing simple grammars, vs. the traditional lex/yacc approach, or the use of regular expressions.
- RPLY - Port of the PLY project to RPython.
- RPython - RPython is a framework for the implementatation of dynamic languages.
- Combine - Parser Combinator Library for Rust.
- IronLLVM - Safe LLVM bindings for Rust.
- LALRPOP - LR(1) parser generator for Rust.
- Nom - Parser Combinator Framework.
- PEG - PEG Parser Generator.
- Pest - PEG Parser Generator.
- RLS - The Rust Language Server implementation (aka RLS).
This section aims at listing code projects of Compilers, Interpreters, Translators, Runtimes, Virtual Machines and the like.
- Babel.js - Next-generation JavaScript Compiler.
- ChezScheme's Compiler - ChezScheme Language Compiler.
- ELENA Compiler - Elena programming language.
- Eta' Compiler - JVM-based Compiler for the Eta Programming Language.
- Frege's Compiler - JVM-based Compiler for the Frege Programming Language.
- Gluon's Compiler - Embedded Language Compiler written in Rust.
- HHVM - Virtual Machine for running programs written in Hack and PHP.
- Lily's Interpreter.
- Lua's Interpreter - Official Lua Language Interperter.
- Lua's Annotated Source Code - Annotated source code of the Lua Programming Language Interpreter v5.1.4.
- Mirah's Compiler - JVM-based Compiler for the Mirah Programming Language.
- Nim's Compiler.
- P Lang - The P Programming Language Runtime.
- Red's Compiler.
- Roslyn - The .NET "Roslyn" Compiler Platform.
- Simple-MSIL-Compiler - C compiler that compiles to CLR.
- TypeScript's Compiler.
- Wren's Compiler.
- Zig's Compiler - Zig Language Compiler.
- Akilang - A compiler for a simple language, built with Python and LLVM
- amacc - Small C Compiler generating ELF executable for Arm architecture.
- Discussions: HN.
- Black - Scheme interpreter for the Reflective Programming Language "Black", by Kenichi Asai's.
- Other sources: GitHub Mirror.
- C4 - C Lang in 4 Functions.
- Discussions: HN.
- CarpVM - Experimental VM implementation in C.
- Charly - Interpreter for a dynamically typed language written in Crystal.
- Dale - Lisp-flavoured C: a system programming language.
- Eschelle - Open source cross platform multi-paradigm language with VM & JIT
- Gecho - Simple-stack language implementation in C.
- gocaml - Minimal functional programming language implementation in Go and LLVM.
- gone - Compiler for a tiny programming language called Gone, implemented using Python 3.6, SLY and llvmlite. Developed as part of the January 2018 Write a compiler course, under the supervision of David Beazly.
- Hython - Haskell-powered Python 3 interpreter.
- Discussions: Reddit.
- llgo - Go frontend for LLVM written in Go.
- Mal's Interpreter - Clojure-inspired Lisp interpreter implemented in 64 languages.
- MetaScala - Metacircular JVM implementation in Scala.
- mini-js - Experimental self-hosted JavaScript compiler in 1K LoC.
- MunVM - Lua VM & Compiler in C.
- MY-BASIC - An embeddable BASIC dialect interpreter in C with modern paradigms.
- oberonc - A single pass, self-hosting compiler for the Oberon-07 programming language. It targets the JVM.
- Poprc - Compiler for the Popr Language.
- PyCOOLC - Compiler for the COOL Programming Language written in Python 3.
- RabbitVM - RISC-based VM implementation in C.
- StackVM - Virtual Machine with an integrated VRAM display.
- stack_cpu - Stack-machine simulator.
- The Super Tiny Compiler - Tiny educational compiler project in JavaScript.
- Discussions: HN.
- tinyc.c - Tiny-C language compiler in C.
- tisp - "Time is Space" Programming Language Interpreter.
- CakeML.
- CoreCLR - The .NET's Common Language Runtime.
- Erlang BEAM.
- HHVM - Facebook's Open Source VM for running Hack and PHP programs.
- HLVM.
- JVM Implementations:
- Eli Bendersky.
- John Regehr.
- Krister Walfridsson.
- Lambda The Ultimate.
- LLVM Developers' Meetings.
- LLVM Weekly - Weekly newsletter about LLVM.
- /r/Compilers - Subreddit community about the theory and development of compilers.
- /r/ProgrammingLanguages - Subreddit community that is dedicated to discussion of programming languages, programming language theory, design, their syntax and compilers.
- 68 Resources for Creating Programming Languages.
- Awesome Static Analysis.
- Compiler Conferences, Workshops and Journals.
- Languages and Compilers Network Graph.
- miniKanren.org - Papers, Talks and Implementations of miniKanren and microKanren.
- PLT Enlightenment.
- Resources for Amateur Compiler Writers.
- SSA Form Bibliography.
- Summer Schools.
- The Witchcraft Compiler Collection.
- TypeFunc.
To the extent possible under law, Ahmad Alhour has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this work.
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