Building a Transpiler from scratch

Name: Building a Transpiler from scratch
Price: 9 USD
Availability: InStock

2h 3s

English

Paid

January 7, 2025

In modern implementations of compilers, it has become popular to transform one high-level language into another. Examples include transpiling new versions of JavaScript into older ones or converting TypeScript into JavaScript. Such compilers are called transpilers, and this course is dedicated to them.

Why are transpilers important?

Transpilers allow the use of existing runtime environments (such as JavaScript engines) while avoiding dealing with low-level details such as memory management or bytecode. This is a practical and efficient approach to learning compilers, especially if you want to create your own programming language.

Unlike traditional books on compilers that focus on theoretical aspects (grammars, parsing, etc.), this course offers a practical guide to creating a full-fledged transpiler in 2-4 hours. We will develop it in a live coding format, step by step, with clear explanations.

What will you learn?

We will focus on transpiling a high-level concurrent programming language with message-passing processes into JavaScript. Besides transpiling, you will understand how concurrent functional languages (such as Erlang) and even operating systems with processes and threads work.

Developing a transpiler will improve your programming skills as it involves data structures, algorithms, and architectural decisions.

Course prerequisites

It is optionally recommended to take the course "Building an Interpreter from Scratch", where we create an AST interpreter. If you already understand concepts such as eval, closures, scopes, environments, you can start this course directly.

Who is this course for?

For engineers who want to master the creation of complex systems and acquire transferable knowledge
For those interested in compilers, programming languages, and type theory
For developers who want to create their own programming language

What technologies are used?

We will write the transpiler in JavaScript and compile code into JavaScript. This choice makes the course accessible to a wide range of developers and allows the code to be adapted to other languages (TypeScript, Rust, OCaml, C++, Python, etc.).

Important! This course is focused on active learning. We do not just provide the final code - you will need to implement key parts of the transpiler yourself in specially prepared exercises.

Course format

Clear and structured lectures - without distractions and unnecessary theoretical digressions
Animated presentations + live notes - to visually explain complex topics
Live coding with step-by-step assignments - from an empty project to a full-fledged transpiler

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#	Title	Duration
1	Lecture 1: Transpiler overview \| Numbers	12:04
2	Lecture 2: Strings \| Blocks and Statements	07:28
3	Lecture 3: Parsing: S-expression to AST	05:59
4	Lecture 4: Variable declaration and lookup	05:17
5	Lecture 5: Function calls \| Runtime	04:21
6	Lecture 6: Binary and Unary expressions	05:29
7	Lecture 7: Control flow: If statement \| While loops	03:12
8	Lecture 8: Function declarations \| Return statement	05:14
9	Lecture 9: Primer on generators	08:40
10	Lecture 10: Process \| Scheduler class	05:08
11	Lecture 11: Spawning processes \| JS Transform	07:48
12	Lecture 12: Records and Lists	07:00
13	Lecture 13: Pattern matching \| Decomposition	11:42
14	Lecture 14: Pattern matching statement	05:23
15	Lecture 15: Awaiting messages \| Process mailbox	05:41
16	Lecture 16: Receive statement \| Recursive calls	05:18
17	Lecture 17: Using compiled code from Web	08:35
18	Lecture 18: Final executable \| Next steps	05:44

Course