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  • Crafting Interpreters

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Crafting Interpreters Paperback – 28 July 2021

English edition by Robert Nystrom (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars (694)
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Despite using them every day, most software engineers know little about how programming languages are designed and implemented. For many, their only experience with that corner of computer science was a terrifying "compilers" class that they suffered through in undergrad and tried to blot from their memory as soon as they had scribbled their last NFA to DFA conversion on the final exam.

That fearsome reputation belies a field that is rich with useful techniques and not so difficult as some of its practitioners might have you believe. A better understanding of how programming languages are built will make you a stronger software engineer and teach you concepts and data structures you'll use the rest of your coding days. You might even have fun.

This book teaches you everything you need to know to implement a full-featured, efficient scripting language. You’ll learn both high-level concepts around parsing and semantics and gritty details like bytecode representation and garbage collection. Your brain will light up with new ideas, and your hands will get dirty and calloused.

Starting from main(), you will build a language that features rich syntax, dynamic typing, garbage collection, lexical scope, first-class functions, closures, classes, and inheritance. All packed into a few thousand lines of clean, fast code that you thoroughly understand because you wrote each one yourself.
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  1. Print length
    639 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    28 July 2021
  4. Dimensions
    20.32 x 3.66 x 25.4 cm
  5. ISBN-10
    0990582930
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0990582939
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Genever Benning
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ 28 July 2021
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 639 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0990582930
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0990582939
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 20.32 x 3.66 x 25.4 cm
  • Best Sellers Rank: 76,260 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • Customer reviews:
    4.8 out of 5 stars (694)

About the author

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Robert Nystrom

Robert Nystrom

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Robert Nystrom has programmed professionally for twenty years, about half of which is in games. During his eight years at Electronic Arts, he worked on behemoths like Madden and smaller titles like Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure. He's shipped games on the PC, GameCube, PS2, XBox, X360, and DS, but is most proud of the tools and shared libraries he created for others to build on. He loves seeing usable, beautiful code magnify the creative ability of others.

Robert lives with his wife and two daughters in Seattle where you are most likely to find him cooking for his friends and plying them with good beer.

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5 stars
694 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book comprehensive, with visual code examples for implementation. They say it teaches about compilers, interpreters, and language runtime in a hands-on way. Readers describe the content as brilliant, fun, and a perfect mix between theory and hands-on coding. They also appreciate the nicely written and well-written introduction to interpreters.
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8 customers mention comprehensive, 8 positive, 0 negative
Customers find the book comprehensive. They mention it provides a good overview of compiler construction, has visual code examples for implementation, and teaches about compilers, interpreters, and language runtime in a hands-on, pragmatic, and accessible way. Readers also appreciate the well-structured code presentation and a reduction of the theory to a simple way without sacrificing detail.
...normally be seen as arcane or highly complex in an easy way without sacrificing detail. I really can only recommend it.Read more
Teaches about compilers, interpreters and language runtime in a hands-on, pragmatic and accessible way. Great reading!Read more
...However this book gives a hands-on approach to compiler/interpreter implementation like no other before it...Read more
I rarely have read a book, which is so well guided and written....Read more
7 customers mention content, 7 positive, 0 negative
Customers find the content great, brilliant, and fun. They say it's a perfect mix between theory and hand-on coding.
Best programming book I have ever purchased.Read more
...Great reading!Read more
...perhaps a type checker or a JIT, but for an introductory book it is a great and fun read....Read more
One of the best books I have read so far!Read more
5 customers mention writing style, 5 positive, 0 negative
Customers find the writing style nice and well-written. They say it's a well-written introduction to interpreters. Readers also appreciate the perfect mix between theory and hand-on coding.
I rarely have read a book, which is so well guided and written....Read more
It is a very nicely written book....Read more
Brilliant! Perfect mix between Theory and Hand-On CodingRead more
...Es ist sprachlich ausgereift und trotz des „trockenen“ Themas sehr amüsant geschrieben....Read more

Top reviews from Germany

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  • Raul Costa Junior
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!
    Reviewed in Germany on 10 January 2026
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Teaches about compilers, interpreters and language runtime in a hands-on, pragmatic and accessible way. Great reading!
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  • Thomas Sedlmair
    5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I have read so far!
    Reviewed in Germany on 16 August 2023
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I rarely have read a book, which is so well guided and written. This is worth so much if one wants to learn about programming languages, compiler and interpreters. Two interpreters were programmed in this book, the first one is in java and the second (which is the more realistic example) in C.

    The first Interpreter: If you're not familiar with java, take the challenge and port the code to your desired language (I did this with C++) and on the git repository from the author are linked several projects in other languages.

    Second Interpreter: If one is not familiar with C, take some time and learn the basics (pointers, memory management, etc.) and then you're good to go.

    I wouldn't recommend this book to complete beginners, but with some more effort on the basics it still can be a success. And do the examples in parallel. I think you'll get most out of it by reading and continuously code the examples, chapter by chapter to really see the progress. Then this book is better than probably a lot in person trainings.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • PMU
    5.0 out of 5 stars Die Kraft des Tuns - Super!
    Reviewed in Germany on 12 July 2024
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Robert Nystrom sagt gleich zu Anfang: „It’s the book I wish I’d had when I first started getting into languages…”. Diese Aussage kann ich nur unterstreichen. Ich habe in den letzten Jahrzehnten sehr viele Bücher zum Thema Scannen, Parsen, Kompilieren, Interpretieren und über den Aufbau und die Struktur von Sprachen durchgeackert und versucht, sie für meine Arbeit zu nutzen.

    Dies ist vor allem wegen des immensen Theorieanteils der Werke nicht immer gelungen. Der akademische Aspekt, die Mathematik und Logik, deren Notationen und die dadurch erzielte Effizienz mögen wichtig sein; doch sie schläfern auch ein, lenken vom eigentlichen Ziel ab und können darüber hinaus auch mehr verwirren als helfen.

    Der in diesem Buch verfolgte Ansatz ist viel pragmatischer und einfacher zu verstehen: Die speziell für den Lehrzweck geschaffene Sprache Lox wird gleich zweimal, Hand in Hand mit dem Leser, als Interpreter implementiert.

    Einmal so simpel wie möglich, mit einem auf Java basierenden rekursiven Tree-Walking-Interpreter und einmal auf Performance und Kompaktheit optimiert, in maschinennahem C. Theorie gibt es immer nur so viel, wie es für den nächsten Abschnitt absolut notwendig ist.

    Ich habe beide Teile durchgearbeitet und bin der Meinung, dass es mit Abstand das beste Buch zum Thema ist.

    Es ist didaktisch rund und mit vielen Aufgaben und Herausforderungen gespickt, die im zugehörigen Github auch aufgelöst werden.

    Es ist sprachlich ausgereift und trotz des „trockenen“ Themas sehr amüsant geschrieben.

    Beide Teile implementieren das Gleiche mit unterschiedlichen Schwerpunkten; das hilft, zunächst die Konzepte und dann die Wege und Optimierungen zu verstehen.

    Der Praxisbezug vermittelt Architektur und Design-Patterns auf beinahe spielerische Weise.

    Aber das Beste: Das Buch hat keine Fehler. Obwohl der Code Schritt für Schritt ergänzt und verändert wird, ist er zu jedem vorgesehenen Zeitpunkt einsatzfähig und leistet, was er soll. Keine Sackgassen, Verwirrung und Frust!

    Der erste Interpreter ist übrigens auch ohne Schwierigkeit auf Python implementierbar.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Lukas J.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Best programming book in general
    Reviewed in Germany on 9 September 2025
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Best programming book I have ever purchased.
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  • Tobias Gierke
    5.0 out of 5 stars Super Buch !
    Reviewed in Germany on 23 May 2022
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Compiler sind ein Hobby von mir und ich habe schon diverse Bücher zu dem Thema gelesen ; IMHO sticht dieses Buch vor allem durch seine Praxis-Bezug, die sehr gut strukturierte Code-Präsentation und ein Reduktion der Theorie auf das Mindestmaß heraus (es werden aber oft relevante weiterführenden Stichwörter genannt, muss man dann halt selber erforschen).
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Augusto H.
    4.0 out of 5 stars Well writting introduction to interpreters.
    Reviewed in Germany on 22 September 2025
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    It is a very nicely written book. I didn't take much of the first half of the book, and I wish instead the book would have ditched it and used those pages to introduce more advanced concepts, perhaps a type checker or a JIT, but for an introductory book it is a great and fun read. The second half of the book was more interesting to me, and had some interesting tricks I enjoyed learning about.
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  • AA
    5.0 out of 5 stars Beste Übersicht zu Compilerbau seit langem
    Reviewed in Germany on 29 May 2024
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    auch anschauliche Codebeispiele zur Implementierung. Jeder Part mit vollständigem und lauffähigem Code!
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  • raoul schmidiger
    5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant! Perfect mix between Theory and Hand-On Coding
    Reviewed in Germany on 20 June 2022
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I was reading the "dragon book" twice, which was great. However this book gives a hands-on approach to compiler/interpreter implementation like no other before it...
    3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars a great buy
    Reviewed in India on 11 February 2026
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    very good book... well built... very well printed.
    Although, the book is available online, it is good to have a paper book.
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    Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    a great buy

    Reviewed in India on 11 February 2026
    very good book... well built... very well printed.
    Although, the book is available online, it is good to have a paper book.
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  • Cliente Amazon
    5.0 out of 5 stars Practical, Easy, Demystifying
    Reviewed in Italy on 24 January 2025
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    It makes all topics easy to digest. It's so satisfying to see the interpreter slowly become more powerful. You will go through many interesting cs topics, like closures and garbage collectors. Many chapters ends with additional notes that analyze the implementation choice between different real languages.
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  • Huibert Aalbers
    5.0 out of 5 stars De lo mejor que he leído con respecto a intérpretes/compiladores
    Reviewed in Mexico on 22 October 2021
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Si alguna vez quisiste saber cómo escribir un intérprete de un lenguaje de programación de (relativamente) alto nivel, este es un gran libro. El autor empieza definiendo el lenguaje que quiere implementar (Lox) y luego desarrollo dos intérpretes para este lenguaje, uno en Java (para entender las bases) y luego otro mucho más rápido en C, pero también más complejo, en C.

    Se trata de un libro ameno, escrito por un experto que conoce el tema a fondo y que te permitirá aprender todos los conceptos fundamentales. ¡Altamente recomendado!
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  • Maurice Szmurlo
    5.0 out of 5 stars Un must have pour tous ceux qui sont intéressés pas des interpréteurs ou des compilateurs et des VM
    Reviewed in France on 26 December 2024
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Excellent. Pour tous les niveau (ok, il faut quand même savoir développer à la base). Absolument limpide. Couvre la création d'un interprète, d'une machine virtuelle pour exécuter du byte code et le compilateur pour générer ce byte code. Un vrai bijou
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  • Norm Deplume
    5.0 out of 5 stars Now you don't need to go bothering dragons till you're ready for them.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 October 2025
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    I wish this book had been around when I was an undergraduate. It's not just an excellent introduction to the field of compilers and, particularly, interpreters, but actually has some of the best explanation of some general computer science/software engineering concept I've come across.
    I have found I end up skim reading over some of the code. Nystrom has chosen to include all of it for completeness.
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