Have you ever thought about creating your own programming language, but didn't know where to start? Are you confused about the difference between a parser and a lexer/scanner? It can be quite overwhelming knowing where to start. Most resources point towards "the dragon book" and you should learn all about formal language theory and compilers.
In this video I want to show you that actually getting started isn't as hard as you think. You don't need parser generators or formal understandings of grammar. JSON is a wonderful example because the grammar is simple and you're most likely already familiar with it. Build a fully functioning parser with me as I walk you through this programming tutorial step by step in Python.
I really hope this inspires you to play around with your own toy languages. If you want to dig a little further, I highly recommend https://craftinginterpreters.com/ which is free online. You'll be able to build out your own real programming language.
You can find the source code for this parser on my GitHub: https://github.com/jordanwebster/pyjsonparser
Please consider following me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jwebster_dev
