The latest articles on DEV Community by austrian1painter (@austrian1painter). https://dev.to/austrian1painter https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4004235%2Faad11be8-7858-4b13-bd74-6a26cdb24c20.png https://dev.to/austrian1painter en austrian1painter Fri, 26 Jun 2026 15:35:04 +0000 https://dev.to/austrian1painter/my-own-programming-language-w-language-v02-4ihg https://dev.to/austrian1painter/my-own-programming-language-w-language-v02-4ihg <p>For the past few months, I've been building my own programming language called <strong>W-Language</strong>.</p> <p>The primary goal of this project is to learn how programming languages work internally by implementing every major component myself instead of relying on existing compiler frameworks.</p> <p>Version <strong>0.2</strong> has just been completed, marking the biggest update since the project began.</p> <h2> ✨ Features </h2> <ul> <li>64-bit Runtime</li> <li>Custom Virtual Machine (W-VM)</li> <li>Custom Bytecode Format (WVM2)</li> <li>Recursive Descent Parser</li> <li>Lexer written from scratch</li> <li>Abstract Syntax Tree (AST)</li> <li>Bytecode Compiler</li> <li>Bytecode Loader</li> <li>Foreign Function Interface (FFI)</li> <li>Integer Support</li> <li>Floating Point Support</li> <li>Boolean Support</li> <li>String Support</li> <li>Variables</li> <li>Functions</li> <li>Function Calls</li> <li><code>if / else</code></li> <li><code>while</code></li> <li><code>return</code></li> <li>Built-in <code>print()</code> </li> </ul> <h2> 🏗 Architecture </h2> <div class="highlight js-code-highlight"> <pre class="highlight plaintext"><code>Source Code │ ▼ Lexer │ ▼ Parser │ ▼ AST │ ▼ Code Generator │ ▼ WVM2 Bytecode │ ▼ Loader │ ▼ Virtual Machine │ ▼ Program Execution </code></pre> </div> <h2> 🔥 What's New in v0.2 </h2> <p>This release was almost a complete rewrite.</p> <p>Major improvements include:</p> <ul> <li>Full migration to a 64-bit runtime</li> <li>Replaced the old runtime representation with <code>std::variant</code> </li> <li>Improved Virtual Machine architecture</li> <li>New WVM2 binary format</li> <li>Improved parser</li> <li>Improved code generation</li> <li>Better runtime diagnostics</li> <li>Cleaner project structure</li> <li>Migrated from <code>.h</code> to <code>.hpp</code> </li> <li>Better FFI implementation</li> </ul> <h2> 📦 Technologies </h2> <p>The project is written entirely in <strong>Modern C++17</strong>.</p> <p>Main concepts used:</p> <ul> <li><code>std::variant</code></li> <li>Smart pointers</li> <li>Recursive Descent Parsing</li> <li>Bytecode Compilation</li> <li>Virtual Machine Design</li> <li>Stack Frames</li> <li>Runtime Value System</li> <li>Binary Serialization</li> </ul> <h2> 🎯 Why I Built It </h2> <p>This project is mainly for learning.</p> <p>Instead of using existing compiler frameworks, I wanted to understand how programming languages actually work internally.</p> <p>During development I learned about:</p> <ul> <li>Lexical Analysis</li> <li>Parsing</li> <li>AST Construction</li> <li>Compiler Design</li> <li>Bytecode Generation</li> <li>Virtual Machines</li> <li>Runtime Systems</li> <li>Binary File Formats</li> </ul> <h2> 🚀 Roadmap </h2> <p>Planned features for <strong>v0.3</strong>:</p> <ul> <li>Arrays</li> <li>Objects</li> <li>Additional operators</li> <li>Expanded Standard Library</li> <li>VM optimizations</li> <li>More native functions</li> <li>Performance improvements</li> </ul> <h2> 📂 GitHub </h2> <p>The project is fully open source.</p> <p><strong>Repository:</strong></p> <p><a href="https://github.com/austrian1painter/W_lang" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://github.com/austrian1painter/W_lang</a></p> <p>Feedback, suggestions and code reviews are always welcome.</p> <p>I'm still learning compiler and language implementation, so constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.</p> <p>Thanks for reading! 🚀</p> programming