Do you have any feedback on how we could improve the docs? If so, please let us know.
I believe the easiest way to start a new Truffle language implementation is to fork SimpleLanguage [1] and turn it into your language. Did you try to do that?
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Yes please.
My major blockers were -
1. Starting post ast generation was an abrupt start. An end to end tutorial - from parsing to working compiler for a tiny language like Lua, Lox, Wren etc would be very helpful. You need not deep dive into the parsing part - just give enough that we can follow along. Another option can be to continue an existing tutorial series like Lox from "crafting interpreters". That way you don't have to focus on parts which are not Truffle specific, yet users can follow along.
2. Just going through existing Java code of the Simple Language was extremely difficult for a newbie to Java, like me. I would much prefer a readable tutorial which explains all concepts in more details
3. More language examples please. As I said before, if possible do add a couple more languages like Lua. I believe Lua is already a Truffle language. Just an accompanying tutorial is missing. I remember when I tried to read through the codes of Ruby, Lua and simple language, they all started off very differently and I just got lost.
Adding 2 more points -
4. More tutorials. Outside of the main docs, I found only 1 comprehensive tutorial. I think it will be great if the key members make it a priority to add smalllish tutorials on things like forth, brainfuck etc in other blogs and articles.
5. Tutorials in Kotlin! I am new to the jvm, but I am digging Kotlin as a saner alternative. I think having some tuts in Kotlin would be a great help.
I think the issue here is that the Truffle docs:
a. Point people to the papers to understand how the 'magic' happens.
b. Are really intended for people who already know how to build language VMs from scratch.
If you've never implemented a language interpreter at all, then you're going to struggle. Arguably not Truffle's fault, but hey, you can't drop the cost of making SOTA language runtimes by a couple orders of magnitude and then be surprised when a whole lot of newbies show up wanting to try their hand at it :)