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title: "Little Languages"
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modified_at: "2026-01-21T14:29:15+00:00"
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excerpt: "The first part of any translator or compiler, is the lexical analyser. A lexical analyser takes the \"words\" of a program and breaks them up into parts that understands. It separates the operators ( +, =, *, etc) , the reserved words (FORWARD, RIGHT, LEFT, etc) , and variables. It does not check to make…"
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  - name: "Tim Swenson"
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volume: "8"
issue: "9"
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    title: "CATS v8 n9"
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pages: "6-8"
pubdate: "February 1991"
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---

# Little Languages

The first part of any translator or compiler, is the lexical analyser. A lexical analyser takes the “words” of a program and breaks them up into parts that understands. It separates the operators ( +, =, *, etc) , the reserved words (FORWARD, RIGHT, LEFT, etc) , and variables. It does not check to make sure the program makes any sense. A11 operators and reserved words are broken down to “tokens”. The word FORWARD is translated to just F.