Introduction


Intro #

We are going to build a super tiny programming language called NTLC, and, we will do it from scratch in Rust.

Why another programming language? #

It’s not a real programming language. It’s just a toy language that will we will use for fun and learning. It’s not meant to be used for anything except learning and exploring.


If you do end up falling in love with programming languages, or you wish to learn more about them, or, perhaps you would like to create your own real language then then I highly recommend:

Why from scratch, and, why Rust? #

Well, that’s how one really learns in my opinion – by doing.


As for Rust, it’s a language that I have been wanting to explore for a while now – the hype you know – and this seemed like a good opportunity to do so (spoiler alert: it might not have been the wisest choice).


In my opinion, Rust is not a beginner friendly language. It’s a very powerful one, but, it’s also a complex one, especially if you haven’t done any C or C++ before. Nevertheless, I will do my best to explain things as we go.


Having already planned to write about NTLC; I should’ve perhaps chosen a language that is more beginner friendly or one that I am really proficient with but where is the challenge in that!

The Language #

NTLC stands for “Neo Typed Lambda Calculus”. The name was inspired from the book “Types and Programming Languages” by Benjamin C. Pierce, which is a great book on type theory and programming languages in general.


The book uses a language called “Simply Typed Lambda Calculus” to demonstrate the concepts of type theory, and, we are building a typed version of a simpler precursor to it known as “Untyped Arithmetic Expressions”. It is just that for some reason my mind was already fixated on the name “Neo Typed Lambda Calculus” so I stuck with it.

End to End #

The language itself is so simple that one might not even call it a language, but that also makes for a great learning playground.


Also, I have never built a language before so this felt like a great place to start, and, it will allow us to build the full compiler pipeline1: including a type checker, simple IDE integration and native code generation from start to finish.

Small Interlude #

I recommend this approach for anything you wish to build or learn:

  1. Get a feeling for the landscape you’re about to enter
  2. Build a fully functioning thing. It doesn’t have to be perfect or even good. It just has to work
  3. Now, iterate and refine. You will have a much better understanding of the problem space and will be able to make better decisions

What does it look like? #

Here is a program/snippet written in NTLC:

if iszero(succ(0)) then true else false

which evaluates, you guessed it, to false.


iszero() is a builtin function that checks if the given argument is zero. succ() (successor) is a function that increments its argument by one. true, false and 0 are predefined constants.


There is one more builtin function called pred() (predecessor) that decrements its argument by one.


You can also nest things, here is another contrived example:

if iszero(succ(pred(0))) then if true then false else true else false


Yikes! And, that’s it. That’s the whole language.


There are no user defined types (think classes, structs, or even variables) or functions. There are no loops. There are no strings. There aren’t even any other numbers beside the predefined 0 constant. The language doesn’t even allow empty lines. The whole program must be typed in one single line.


Again, this keeps things simple and allows us to build things end to end. Also, adding those – albeit tricky for some and near impossible for other – constructs can be done iteratively and incrementally.

What’s next? #

In the next chapter, we will build the first stage of our language compiler – the lexer.


See you there!

  1. It is as full of a pipeline as possible with such simple language that doesn't have many constructs but it is more than enough for a start.