# Let's Build a Compiler by Jack Crenshaw

12 Hacker News commenters recommended Let's Build a Compiler by Jack Crenshaw and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as an accessible, readable introduction that got many started building compilers and was preferred over other books. Critics note the series stops before it becomes truly useful and dislike the baked-in line wrapping.

## Why people recommend it

- Accessible without prior knowledge (2 comments): "accessible in the sense of being readable without extensive prior knowledge" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46232725)) "this was the most accessible body of work" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46215312))
- Helps newcomers start building compilers (3 comments): "building a simple compiler for a toy language was a small project that was well within my grasp" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46215937)) "I got to learn from Jack Crenshaw's tutorial from comp.compilers newsgroup on USENET." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46215991)) "I loved that tutorial! It got me started down this path." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46218901))
- Preferred over other compiler books (2 comments): "Crenshaw's Let's Build a Compiler was more useful to me than all these books" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48081092)) "IMHO the best tutorial is Crenshaw's "Let's Build a Compiler" series." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45853239))

## What people warn about

- Baked-in line wrapping in listings (1 comments): "I've been having a look at the Crenshaw series, and it seems pretty good, but one thing that kinda annoys me is the baked-in line wrapping." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47777741))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Beej's Guide to Network Programming by Brian Hall](https://hackerapproved.com/p/beej-s-guide-to-network-programming.md): 16 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Let's Build a Compiler by Jack Crenshaw", https://hackerapproved.com/p/let-s-build-a-compiler/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).