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Re: A tiny self-hosting compiler used for teaching

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> On 5. Sep 2026, at 17:17, ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de wrote:

> Michael Lehn <michael.lehn@uni-ulm.de> wrote or quoted:

>> In practice, we have seen the opposite. Since introducing ABC, students who
>> come to the course without previous programming experience have had a
>> noticeably easier time. They can first learn the programming concepts without
>> having to deal with some of C's syntactic peculiarities, and the later
>> transition to C or C++ has not been a problem.
>
>   Writing a compiler requires implementing complex data structures
>   (like symbol tables) and managing memory. If students have no prior
>   programming experience, they must learn basic control flow, data
>   structures, memory management and compiler theory simultaneously.
>   This creates a steep learning curve, even with a simplified language.
>
>   The claim that transitioning to C or C++ later "has not been a
>   problem" is the most debatable point. While learning concepts
>   first is beneficial, C requires a deep understanding of hardware
>   interaction, manual memory management, and pointers - areas where
>   students taught via idealized languages frequently struggle.
> [What language to teach first is an old and insoluble problem.  When
> I was in school most places started with Pascal while MIT started
> with Lisp.  That meant they were dealing with interesting data
> structures and introspection while we were still explaining how
> big to make an array. -John]
>



I think this assumes that students are asked to learn all these things at
once. That is not how the course is structured.

The compiler is developed incrementally over an entire semester. Students
begin with small ABC programs and basic experiments with control flow,
variables, and functions. Data structures, recursion, pointers, memory
management, parsing, and code generation are introduced step by step. Each
assignment contributes one small, reusable component. By the time the
components are assembled into a compiler, most of them have already been
implemented and understood separately.

Nor is ABC an idealized language that hides the machine. It deliberately
includes pointers, pointer arithmetic, recursive data structures, and manual
memory management with `malloc` and `free`. What it removes is mainly some of
C’s historical and syntactic complexity.

The course uses a flipped-classroom format: students prepare with short
English videos containing live programming, and the actual exercises are
completed in two-hour classroom sessions with individual assistance. No
previous programming experience is assumed.

The first English worksheets, lecturer notes, and links to the lecture videos
are available here:

https://github.com/michael-lehn/not-abc/tree/main/hpc0-sessions

So the statement about the transition to C and C++ is not a general
theoretical claim about first languages. It is an empirical observation from
several iterations of this particular course: the transition has not caused
the problems one might expect, while beginners have found the initial
introduction noticeably easier.

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Re: A tiny self-hosting compiler used for teaching Michael Lehn <michael.lehn@uni-ulm.de> - 2026-08-25 08:05 +0200
  Re: A tiny self-hosting compiler used for teaching Cóilín Nioclásín Glostéir <thanks-to@Taf.com> - 2026-09-04 21:12 +0000
  Re: A tiny self-hosting compiler used for teaching ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de - 2026-09-05 07:02 +0000
    Re: A tiny self-hosting compiler used for teaching Michael Lehn <michael.lehn@uni-ulm.de> - 2026-09-05 19:47 -0700
  Re: A tiny self-hosting compiler used for teaching George Neuner <gneuner2@comcast.net> - 2026-09-05 14:02 -0400
    Re: A tiny self-hosting compiler used for teaching Michael Lehn <michael.lehn@uni-ulm.de> - 2026-09-05 19:50 -0700
  Re: A tiny self-hosting compiler used for teaching ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de - 2026-09-05 07:02 +0000
  Re: A tiny self-hosting compiler used for teaching George Neuner <gneuner2@comcast.net> - 2026-09-05 14:02 -0400
    Re: A tiny self-hosting compiler used for teaching George Neuner <gneuner2@comcast.net> - 2026-09-07 15:23 -0400
  Re: A tiny self-hosting compiler used for teaching Michael Lehn <michael.lehn@me.com> - 2026-09-05 22:58 -0700

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