definitepotato

Lexing

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The lexer (also called a tokenizer or scanner) takes Monkey source code as a string and breaks it into a sequence of tokens, each being the smallest meaningful unit of the language. This step separates meaningless things from the meaningful, so the next step (the parsing) can have an easier time not needing to worry about whitespaces or other things that don’t matter in Monkey.

Parsing

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In chapter 1 we wrote a lexer to break our source code into tokens. In this chapter we’ll write the parser that’ll take the tokens and build an Abstract Syntax Tree (AST), a tree representation of your source code structure.

Evaluation

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In chapter 1 we turned our source into tokens. In chapter 2 we turned our tokens into a tree (AST). Now we’re going walk the AST and produce values with an evaluator. Let’s return to our running example of "5 + 3 * 4". When the evaluator sees an InfixExpression node with the operator +, a left child Int(5) and a right child Int(3), it evaluates the children first, then adds them to product Int(8). The AST structure will naturally tell the evaluator what to do and in what order.

Extending the Interpreter

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Almost done with part 1. This chapter completes the interpreter by adding built-in functions (builtins.zig), wiring them into the evaluator, and building the REPL (main.zig).

REPL is a Read Evaluate Print Loop, something similar to the Python interactive shell. The code will produce a prompt and allow the user to write a line of Monkey. It’ll read the input from the user, then lex/parse/evaluate, display the resulting object, then loop back to step 1.

The Joy of Programming with AI

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:00:00 -0400

My thoughts and rambling of coding with AI and what the future holds for software engineering.

How I Use AI

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 00:00:00 -0400

How I use AI in my coding process, at work, and with personal projects.

Zig and HTTP

Sun, 08 Feb 2026 00:00:00 -0400

Making HTTP requests (GET, PUT, POST, DELETE) in Zig and why a wrapper is useful here.

Zig and JSON

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 -0400

Working with JSON in Zig, the std.json.Parsed wrapper, memory management, and what breaks when your JSON doesn’t match your struct.

Reading from files using buffers in Zig

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 00:00:00 -0400

Learn how to read from a file in zig using a buffer for temporary store of bytes.

Writing to files using buffers in Zig

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 00:00:00 -0400

Learn how to write to a file in zig using a buffer for temporary store of bytes.

Zig Juice Has Arrived in 0.16.0

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:00:00 -0400

Zig’s new Init and Minimal structs for accessing command line arguments and environment variables in main.

Zig Iterators

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Building a custom iterator for a generic slice type in Zig.

Error Handling in Zig

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Zig error handling mechanisms using try, catch, switch, panic, unreachable, and C-style return codes.

To Owned

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Implementing a toOwned() method in Zig to copy data from managed buffers to heap-allocated memory.

Sliding Window

Sat, 12 Apr 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Implementing a sliding window algorithm in Zig.

Stack Data Structure using Zig

Sat, 08 Mar 2025 00:00:00 -0400

How I built a generic stack data structure in Zig using comptime.

How To Learn Zig

Sun, 09 Feb 2025 00:00:00 -0400

Resources I used to learn more Zig in 2025.

Advent of Code: Day 1

Sun, 01 Dec 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Solving Advent of Code 2024 Day 1 in Zig.

Zig Optionals

Tue, 26 Nov 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Learning how to declare and unwrap zig optionals to access the underlying values using if, while, orelse and .? notation.

Zig Structs

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 00:00:00 -0400

Let’s learn zig structs. How to declare them, add methods, instantiate them, and @This() super powers.

Charts & Diagrams

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Flowchart
#

graph TD
A[Start] --> B{Is it working?}
B -->|Yes| C[Great!]
B -->|No| D[Debug]
D --> E[Check logs]
E --> F[Fix issue]
F --> B
C --> G[Deploy]

Sequence Diagram
#

sequenceDiagram
participant Client
participant API
participant Database

Client->>API: POST /login
API->>Database: Query user
Database-->>API: User data
API-->>Client: JWT Token
Client->>API: GET /data (with token)
API->>Database: Fetch data
Database-->>API: Results
API-->>Client: JSON response

Class Diagram
#

classDiagram
class User {
    +String username
    +String email
    -String password
    +login()
    +logout()
}
class Post {
    +String title
    +String content
    +Date createdAt
    +publish()
    +delete()
}
class Comment {
    +String text
    +Date createdAt
    +edit()
}
User "1" --> "*" Post : writes
User "1" --> "*" Comment : writes
Post "1" --> "*" Comment : has

Entity Relationship Diagram
#

erDiagram
USER ||--o{ POST : creates
USER ||--o{ COMMENT : writes
POST ||--o{ COMMENT : contains
POST ||--o{ TAG : has
CATEGORY ||--|{ POST : contains

USER {
    int id PK
    string username
    string email
}
POST {
    int id PK
    string title
    text content
    int user_id FK
}

State Diagram
#

stateDiagram-v2
[*] --> Draft
Draft --> Review : Submit
Review --> Draft : Request changes
Review --> Approved : Approve
Approved --> Published : Publish
Published --> Archived : Archive
Archived --> [*]

Gantt Chart
#

gantt
title Project Timeline
dateFormat YYYY-MM-DD
section Planning
Requirements :a1, 2024-01-01, 7d
Design :a2, after a1, 5d
section Development
Backend :b1, after a2, 14d
Frontend :b2, after a2, 14d
section Testing
QA Testing :c1, after b1, 7d
section Deployment
Launch :d1, after c1, 2d

Pie Chart
#

pie showData
title Languages Used
"Go" : 45
"TypeScript" : 30
"Python" : 15
"Rust" : 10

Git Graph
#

gitGraph
commit id: "Initial"
commit id: "Add feature A"
branch develop
commit id: "Start feature B"
commit id: "Continue B"
checkout main
commit id: "Hotfix"
checkout develop
commit id: "Finish B"
checkout main
merge develop id: "Merge develop"
commit id: "Release v1.0"

Mindmap
#

mindmap
root((Project))
    Backend
        API
        Database
        Auth
    Frontend
        UI Components
        State Management
        Routing
    DevOps
        CI/CD
        Monitoring
        Infrastructure

Timeline
#

timeline
title Development Journey
2020 : Started learning Go
2021 : First open source contribution
     : Built first CLI tool
2022 : Joined tech company
     : Led backend team
2023 : Started Zig exploration
2024 : Building with Rust

definitepotato

Lexing

Parsing

Evaluation

Extending the Interpreter

The Joy of Programming with AI

How I Use AI

Zig and HTTP

Zig and JSON

Reading from files using buffers in Zig

Writing to files using buffers in Zig

Zig Juice Has Arrived in 0.16.0

Zig Iterators

Error Handling in Zig

To Owned

Sliding Window

Stack Data Structure using Zig

How To Learn Zig

Advent of Code: Day 1

Zig Optionals

Zig Structs

Charts & Diagrams

Flowchart #

Sequence Diagram #

Class Diagram #

Entity Relationship Diagram #

State Diagram #

Gantt Chart #

Pie Chart #

Git Graph #

Mindmap #

Timeline #

Flowchart
#

Sequence Diagram
#

Class Diagram
#

Entity Relationship Diagram
#

State Diagram
#

Gantt Chart
#

Pie Chart
#

Git Graph
#

Mindmap
#

Timeline
#