# Linkers and Loaders by John R. Levine

5 Hacker News commenters recommended Linkers and Loaders by John R. Levine and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Recommended as the reference on linkers and loaders for anyone building compilers, assemblers or VMs, with no close equal.

## Why people recommend it

- No comparable alternative exists (2 comments): "I'm not sure if there's anything comparable to it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48071461)) "has no equal despite being a bit dated" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47778878))
- Useful for building compilers and assemblers (1 comments): "must read for anyone writing custom VMs, assemblers and compilers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46592097))
- Strong reference on linking and loading (1 comments): "John Levine's Linkers and Loaders is also a great reference" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46552887))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Crafting Interpreters by Robert Nystrom](https://hackerapproved.com/p/crafting-interpreters.md): 60 recommend
- [Clean Code by Robert C. Martin](https://hackerapproved.com/p/clean-code.md): 31 recommend
- [The Pragmatic Programmer by Hunt and Thomas](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pragmatic-programmer.md): 28 recommend
- [How to Design Programs by Felleisen, Findler, Flatt and Krishnamurthi](https://hackerapproved.com/p/how-to-design-programs.md): 18 recommend
- [Mastering Emacs by Mickey Petersen](https://hackerapproved.com/p/mastering-emacs.md): 17 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1558604960?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9781558604964) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Linkers and Loaders by John R. Levine", https://hackerapproved.com/p/linkers-and-loaders/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).