Crafting Interpreters
Crafting Interpreters by Robert Nystromby Robert Nystrom
Hacker ApprovedThe most recommended of 106 programming books
People recommend it as a clear, practical introduction to interpreters and compilers, building two interpreters. Caveat: it focuses on dynamic runtimes, not compiled ones.
55 people recommended Crafting Interpreters by Robert Nystrom in Hacker News comments and 4 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
Summary written by Claude from 44 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 41 of those comments still count.
59 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 55
- mixed feelings
- 0
- warn against or regret it
- 4
The record
Recommended in 9 of 12 months
In 26 different threads.
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
Why it carries the badge
- 55 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 14 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 9 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
- Recommended in 26 threadsNeeds 5 or more, met.
- The biggest thread supplies 31% of its recommendersNeeds half or less, met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 40 of the 63 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Strong introduction to interpreters and compilers
“I can't recommend Crafting Interpreters enough, it's probably one of the best entry-level books that goes into that entire process.”
Comment from 16 Jul 2026 in “G# – A modern .NET language with Go, Kotlin, and Swift ergonomics” “These days Crafting Interpreters is probably the best suggestion.”
Comment from 5 Jul 2026 in “Introduction to Compilers and Language Design” “One of the best resources for learning compiler design”
Comment from 15 Jan 2026 in “Crafting Interpreters” - Comment from 3 Jan 2026 in “The C3 Programming Language”
- Comment from 8 Feb 2026 in “Tiny C Compiler”
- Comment from 8 Feb 2026 in “Tiny C Compiler”
Casual, witty, enjoyable writing style
“I just love the author's casual writing style and all the tiny jokes and puns they made.”
Comment from 15 Jan 2026 in “Crafting Interpreters” “I really enjoyed Crafting Interpreters, wholeheartedly recommend!”
Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Want to Write a Compiler? Just Read These Two Papers (2008)” Builds two interpreters, Java then C
“It has 2 parts, the first in Java for doing a treewalk Interpreter in Java before going farther with a version written in C.”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Advanced Compilers: The Self-Guided Online Course” Better than a compiler class
“I learned way more reading crafting interpreters than I did in my compiler class”
Comment from 29 Nov 2025 in “Confessions of a Software Developer: No More Self-Censorship”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Covers interpreters, not compiled runtimes
“I would have hoped for something more formal and that's focused on compiled runtimes, instead of dynamic runtimes”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “Advanced Compilers: The Self-Guided Online Course” “Compiler doesn't match the title of the book.”
Comment from 15 Jan 2026 in “Crafting Interpreters”
Other programming books people recommend
The four most recommended other programming books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Mixed | Criticize | Approval | Months | Had for | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crafting Interpretersby Robert NystromThis page | 55 | 0 | 4 | 93% | 9 | — | Approved |
| The Pragmatic Programmerby Hunt and Thomas | 25 | 3 | 1 | 96% | 7 | — | — |
| How to Design Programsby Felleisen, Findler, Flatt and Krishnamurthi | 15 | 1 | 2 | 88% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Working Effectively with Legacy Codeby Michael Feathers | 14 | 1 | 1 | 93% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Mastering Emacsby Mickey Petersen | 13 | 4 | 1 | 93% | 8 | — | Approved |
Also compared with The Linux Programming Interface by Michael Kerrisk and Programming Windows by Charles Petzold.
What people said
40 of the 63 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“I can't recommend Crafting Interpreters enough, it's probably one of the best entry-level books that goes into that entire process.”
“found it valuable for the development of a DSL I'm working on”
“These days Crafting Interpreters is probably the best suggestion.”
“Crafting Interpreters is definitely a recommended read”
“I would have hoped for something more formal and that's focused on compiled runtimes, instead of dynamic runtimes”
“It has 2 parts, the first in Java for doing a treewalk Interpreter in Java before going farther with a version written in C.”
“I do like a Crafting Interpreters or Mythical Man Month”
“I highly recommend Crafting Interpreters. Bob Nystrom is among my favorite authors.”
“If you’re just trying to get your parser done, pick one of the bog-standard techniques, use it, and move on.”
“Crafting Interpreters is great, I wish it had a companion book that covered”
“I really enjoyed Crafting Interpreters, wholeheartedly recommend!”
“Awesome course! finished it while i was doing my final CS year”
“Nowadays I’ve heard recommended Crafting Interpreters.”
“Crafting Interpreters is a good recommendation”
“Crafting Interpreters is a perfect starting point”
“a terrific introduction to the key concepts”
“learning from established resources like this is exactly what I need”
“read Crafting Interpreters by Bob Nystrom (it's free online”
“its a big inspiration for me because thats on my list of things to do”
“Simply my favorite programming text of all time.”
“Sometimes it's useful to teach progressively, using techniques that were used more often”
“I just love the author's casual writing style and all the tiny jokes and puns they made.”
“Reading this book brought me a better understanding of "the expression problem”
“provide much big brain advice and grug love book very much”
“The book explains that as well, so I'd recommend just reading it”
“Compiler doesn't match the title of the book.”
“Crafting Interpreters is definitely a keeper”
“The whole point of the book is to get a sense and mindset of crafting compilers.”
“I stopped reading when he started using the visitor pattern”
“I've found this book to be a good way to learn a new language, because it forces you to do a bit of reading”
“One of the best resources for learning compiler design”
“The official repository for the book made this very easy to do since it has tests for each individual chapter.”
“Robert Nystrom is such a hero for writing Crafting Interpreters.”
“Crafting Interpreters was sometimes helpful”
“Great book; very good introduction to the subject.”
“you'll never get chatgpt to come up with something on par with the venerable Crafting Interpreters”
“There is a good body of literature that is distinct from the academic compiler literature.”
“Crafting interpreters was my introduction to programming languages!”
“I learned way more reading crafting interpreters than I did in my compiler class”
“the author used Markdown and the result was beautiful and successful”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.