Peter Norvig personal blog
(How to Write a (Lisp) Interpreter (in Python))
Why does this matter? As Steve Yegge said , "If you don't know how compilers work, then you don't know how computers work." Yegge describes 8 problems that can be solved with compilers (or equally well with interpreters, or with Yegge's typical heavy dosage of cynicism).
- Points
- 222
- HN comments
- 299
- Submissions
- 7
- Cited by
- 66 commenters
Programming LanguagesSoftware Engineering2010
On Hacker News
| Submitted | Title on HN | Points | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 30, 2010 | (How to Write a (Lisp) Interpreter (in Python)) by alexkay | 222 | 39 |
| Jun 21, 2026 | (How to Write a (Lisp) Interpreter (In Python)) (2010) by tosh | 194 | 62 |
| Mar 11, 2024 | (How to Write a (Lisp) Interpreter (In Python)) (2010) by selvan | 193 | 91 |
| May 31, 2014 | How to Write a Lisp Interpreter in Python (2010) by yankoff | 144 | 41 |
| Aug 2, 2019 | How to Write a Lisp Interpreter In Python (2010) by KibbutzDalia | 132 | 29 |
| Oct 24, 2016 | How to Write a Lisp Interpreter in Python (2010) by xorbox | 130 | 28 |
| Feb 23, 2022 | (How to Write a (Lisp) Interpreter (In Python)) (2010) by ivanvas | 66 | 9 |
Cited in comments
Linked from 75 Hacker News comments by 66 different people, from Dec 2010 to Oct 2026.
Most recent:
- matt_daemon · Oct 27, 2026
- onlyrealcuzzo · Jul 16, 2026
- matheusmoreira · Jun 2, 2026
- quibono · May 29, 2026
- steveklabnik · Feb 28, 2026
- matheusmoreira · Nov 21, 2025
