I spent a year of my life making an ASN.1 compiler in D

6 months ago

The author is working on a tool called dasn1, which is a work-in-progress ASN.1 compiler.
ASN.1 is a complex data specification language used in various protocols, including x.509 certificates for TLS.
The post discusses the challenges of implementing ASN.1, including its notation and various encodings like DER.
ASN.1's notation is defined by specifications x.680, x.681, x.682, and x.683, with x.680 being the base notation.
The author highlights the complexity of ASN.1, including its many encodings and the difficulty of reading its specifications.
D programming language features like static imports, module-local lookups, and typeof() are praised for making code generation easier.
The post includes examples of how D's metaprogramming features are used in dasn1, such as mixin templates and compile-time tuples.
The author shares frustrations with ASN.1's complexity, including ambiguous syntax and scattered specifications.
Despite the challenges, the author finds ASN.1 interesting and powerful, especially its constraint features.
The post concludes with a humorous note about the difficulties of working with ASN.1 and the tech industry's hiring practices.

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