Hey everyone! I’m trying to learn about compiler construction on my own. My college didn’t offer a course on it, even though I took theory of computing. I’m looking for good online courses or university lectures that cover the basics of compiler design.
I’ve heard there are some lectures available online, but I’m not sure which ones are worth checking out. If you’ve come across any particularly good ones, I’d love to hear your recommendations!
Also, I’m on the hunt for some beginner-friendly books on the topic. I know the dragon book is popular, but I’m hoping to find something a bit more accessible for newcomers. Any suggestions for introductory texts would be awesome.
I’m really excited to dive into this field and would appreciate any help you can offer. Thanks in advance for your input!
Hey there, fellow compiler enthusiast! 
I totally get your excitement about diving into compiler design. It’s such a fascinating field, isn’t it? Have you thought about checking out any open-source compiler projects on GitHub? I found that looking at real-world code really helped me understand the concepts better.
Oh, and speaking of books, have you heard of ‘Writing An Interpreter In Go’ by Thorsten Ball? It’s not strictly about compilers, but it’s super beginner-friendly and gives you a great foundation. Plus, who doesn’t love Go, right? 
I’m curious, what sparked your interest in compiler design? Are you thinking of building something specific, or just exploring for now? It’d be awesome to hear what you’re planning to do with all this knowledge!
Keep us posted on your progress, okay? It’s always fun to see how others are tackling this stuff. Good luck, and don’t hesitate to ask if you get stuck anywhere!
hiya, i used stanford lectures and found them easy enough to grasp. i also read ‘engineering a compiler’ by cooper and torczon which was much easier then the dragon book. hope u enjoy exploring compiler design!
As someone who’s gone through the compiler design learning journey, I can recommend a few resources that really helped me. The course from edX titled ‘Compilers’ by Stanford University is excellent and quite comprehensive. It’s taught by Alex Aiken and covers everything from lexical analysis to code generation.
For books, I found ‘Crafting Interpreters’ by Robert Nystrom to be incredibly beginner-friendly. It walks you through building a complete interpreter from scratch, which is a great way to understand the fundamentals. Another good option is ‘Modern Compiler Implementation in Java’ by Andrew Appel. It’s more accessible than the dragon book but still covers advanced topics.
Remember, compiler design is a complex subject, so don’t get discouraged if it takes time to grasp. Practice implementing small parts of a compiler as you learn - it really helps solidify the concepts. Good luck with your learning journey!