Building an AST-Parsing JavaScript Interpreter from Scratch: Lexing, Parsing, and Evaluation

📰 Dev.to · Ebendttl

Learn to build a JavaScript interpreter from scratch by tokenizing source code, constructing Abstract Syntax Trees, and evaluating runtime call stacks

advanced Published 25 Jun 2026
Action Steps
  1. Tokenize source code into individual tokens using a lexer
  2. Construct an Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) from the tokens
  3. Manage lexical scopes to resolve variable references
  4. Implement a runtime call stack evaluation to execute the AST
  5. Test and optimize the interpreter for performance and accuracy
Who Needs to Know This

Software engineers and compiler enthusiasts can benefit from this guide to improve their understanding of interpreter design and implementation, and apply this knowledge to build custom interpreters or optimize existing ones

Key Insight

💡 Constructing an Abstract Syntax Tree is a crucial step in building an interpreter, as it allows for efficient evaluation and execution of source code

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🚀 Build a JavaScript interpreter from scratch! Learn tokenization, AST construction, and runtime evaluation

Key Takeaways

Learn to build a JavaScript interpreter from scratch by tokenizing source code, constructing Abstract Syntax Trees, and evaluating runtime call stacks

Full Article

A compiler engineering guide to tokenizing source code, constructing Abstract Syntax Trees, managing lexical scopes, and runtime call stack evaluation.
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