Book Image

Learn LLVM 17 - Second Edition

By : Kai Nacke, Amy Kwan
Book Image

Learn LLVM 17 - Second Edition

By: Kai Nacke, Amy Kwan

Overview of this book

LLVM was built to bridge the gap between the theoretical knowledge found in compiler textbooks and the practical demands of compiler development. With a modular codebase and advanced tools, LLVM empowers developers to build compilers with ease. This book serves as a practical introduction to LLVM, guiding you progressively through complex scenarios and ensuring that you navigate the challenges of building and working with compilers like a pro. The book starts by showing you how to configure, build, and install LLVM libraries, tools, and external projects. You’ll then be introduced to LLVM's design, unraveling its applications in each compiler stage: frontend, optimizer, and backend. Using a real programming language subset, you'll build a frontend, generate LLVM IR, optimize it through the pipeline, and generate machine code. Advanced chapters extend your expertise, covering topics such as extending LLVM with a new pass, using LLVM tools for debugging, and enhancing the quality of your code. You'll also focus on just-in-time compilation issues and the current state of JIT-compilation support with LLVM. Finally, you’ll develop a new backend for LLVM, gaining insights into target description and how instruction selection works. By the end of this book, you'll have hands-on experience with the LLVM compiler development framework through real-world examples and source code snippets.
Table of Contents (20 chapters)
1
Part 1: The Basics of Compiler Construction with LLVM
4
Part 2: From Source to Machine Code Generation
10
Part 3: Taking LLVM to the Next Level
14
Part 4: Roll Your Own Backend

The TableGen Language

Large parts of backends in LLVM are written in the TableGen language, a special language used to generate fragments of C++ source code to avoid implementing code similar for each backend and to shorten the amount of source code. Having knowledge of TableGen is therefore important.

In this chapter, you will learn the following:

  • In Understanding the TableGen language, you will learn about the main idea behind TableGen
  • In Experimenting with the TableGen language, you will define your own TableGen classes and records, and learn the syntax of the TableGen language
  • In Generating C++ code from a TableGen file, you will develop your own TableGen backend
  • Drawbacks of TableGen

By the end of the chapter, you will be able to use existing TableGen classes to define your own records. You will also acquire knowledge of how to create TableGen classes and records from scratch, and how to develop a TableGen backend to emit source code.