# orangeduck/BuildYourOwnLisp

Learn C and build your own programming language in under 1000 lines of code!

Repository: https://github.com/orangeduck/BuildYourOwnLisp
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/buildyourownlisp
Homepage: http://www.buildyourownlisp.com/
Language: HTML
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Last push: 2025-12-28T18:11:27+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 59/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 59, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4534, "days_push": 248, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3272, forks 417 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:53.163849+00:00)

## What it is
A free online book that teaches the C programming language by guiding readers through building their own Lisp interpreter in under 1000 lines of code. This repository contains the HTML source and Flask website code for the book.

## Use cases
- learn C programming from scratch
- build my own programming language
- understand how interpreters work
- learn what a Lisp is
- hands-on tutorial for writing a parser and evaluator
- practice a real-world C project

## When to choose
- you want a project-based, free introduction to C
- you're curious about language implementation and Lisps
- you prefer learning by building something concrete

## When to avoid
- you need a production-ready Lisp interpreter
- you want a comprehensive C reference rather than a guided tutorial
- you need a license permitting commercial redistribution of the book content

## Facets
- artifact type: learning-resource
- maturity: stable
- function: interpreter, programming-language, parser, documentation
- domain: programming-languages, tutorials, education, compilers
- platform: cross-platform, cpp
- tags: lisp, learn-c, book, free-online-book, tutorial, web-server

## Member repositories
- orangeduck/BuildYourOwnLisp (main) score 59

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:53.163849+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T07:23:08.553019+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/orangeduck/BuildYourOwnLisp (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:53.163849+00:00, sha e19fe870adee)
  - homepage: http://www.buildyourownlisp.com/ (fetched 2026-08-29T09:36:25.669495+00:00, sha 69c5a27493fb)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.