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copied!<p>Whilst I might not be able to answer your question directly, I am sure this will give you some insights from my own experience - given, for a final year project I also attempted my own scripting language (in C++) - although I am aware you're attempting a compiler so there might not be similarities. Please learn from my mistakes.</p> <p>From experience:</p> <ol> <li><p>What you imagine the scripting language will do (you type in a command, does something nifty like it fixes windows or something) and what it actually does (you type in a command, but minutes later it crashes) can often be two different things. Keep it realistic.</p></li> <li><p>Aside from the brain imagining this fantastic finished product (with no inbetween), it also has a tendency of deluding itself on it's own capabilities (like 'other programmers made that mistake but I won't!'). Chances are you do make the same mistakes, or if not the same, different mistakes.</p></li> <li><p>The brain has a poor ability to assess time required (if it's thinking 'it's just a hack job that'll take a month' - think again), and time it thinks is required should be multiplied between 5 to 10 times (if not more) to get an accurate idea of real scope needed. Keep to the lengthy end of the scope - worse-case scenario.</p></li> <li><p>Unexpected pitfalls. Like 'how do I implement multi-precedented logic statements' and 'it's taking longer than I expected (see 3.)'. Be willing to give up complicated matters.</p></li> <li><p>Design. Don't just look for ideas, think about whether or not it's a viable project, and look at how you're going to implement the groundwork before jumping to the complicated stuff (see 1.). Laying the groundwork early on can save you time. And don't forget design documents.</p></li> <li><p>Research. Chances are that function you plan to write out, has already been written before somewhere. Research for it. This will save you time. Do not reinvent the wheel and do not be concerned about efficiency (university is about learning).</p></li> <li><p>As one commenter said, start simple, get it working, then expand.</p></li> </ol> <p>Best way to develop useful ideas, is to see what really bothers you about a certain task or certain scripting languages, and build it so you can eliminate or minimise that task. For example, I got annoyed by having to keep downloading files from a website and sorting it manually into specific folders - so I built a program to do that for me.</p>

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