It's been about 4 years since I took a compilers course (from OMSCS, graduate program) and still shutter ... it was, hands down, the most difficult (yet rewarding) classes I've taken.

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niyikiza an hour ago | parent | next [-]

I took that course too and ruined my life...by making me think writing a compiler could be fun. The course itself was worth the money I paid for the program.

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nirvdrum 14 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Based on another reply I can’t tell if there’s a clever window-based pun that I’m missing. If not, I think you want “shudder” and not “shutter” here. I’m sorry if I just ruined the joke.

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shepherdjerred 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I loved that course so much but it was incredibly difficult to do while also working

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bluedino 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I used to judge CS programs based on if they had compiler classes or not.

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tjarjoura 13 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

What did you find more painful about compilers than other forms of programming?

	▲	kuboble 12 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I think there is a million ways to make a compilers course. The course I did was organized perfectly with big parts of compiler boiler plate already written, and I only had to implement parser/lexer rules and the translation of language structures into assembly instructions. Also it was a compiler for a language designed just for this course with the intention of it being specifically easy to write a compiler for it and not programming. Without this I can imagine it being a painful experience

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msla 14 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It made me drink myself Venetian blind.

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Pay08 14 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I would like to agree with this comment, but I certainly didn't find it rewarding. It was pure pain.

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kuboble 13 hours ago | parent [-]

10 years ago I took few coursera courses to fill the gaps in my computer science education.

One of them was a compilers course done by karpathy. It was pure joy and a great learning experience.

Also in my experience the joy of doing a course was much stronger correlated with the teacher's qualities rather than the subject itself.

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jgwil2 10 hours ago | parent [-]

Do you have a link by by chance? A quick search didn't turn anything up.

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kuboble 9 hours ago | parent [-]

No, I am checking my emails (it was in 2012), and all the links are broken.

however I could dig out the references to it. Apparently it was a course by Prof. Alex Aiken and karpathy was a TA.

This repository seems to be a future version of the same course. https://github.com/gboduljak/stanford-compilers-coursework

Edit: found the videos from the course on the archive https://archive.org/details/academictorrents_e31e54905c7b266...

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	▲	jgwil2 8 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Ah yes, I remember this one. Very challenging indeed. Thanks!