Crafting Interpreters is a comprehensive resource for building a complete programming language from scratch. It provides a structured guide to the fundamental components of language implementation, including lexing, parsing, and the design of execution engines.
The project demonstrates two distinct approaches to language execution: a tree-walking interpreter that evaluates source code by traversing its abstract syntax structure, and a stack-based virtual machine that compiles code into custom bytecode for execution. These implementations are supported by core runtime mechanisms such as lexical scoping environments and automated memory management systems.
The guide covers the design of tracing garbage collectors and tagged union value representations to manage data and resources efficiently. It serves as a technical reference for developing language front-ends and custom virtual machines, detailing the processes required to transform source code into executable logic.
