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

Drawbacks of TableGen

Here are a few drawbacks of TableGen:

  • The TableGen language is built on a simple concept. As a consequence, it does not have the same computing capabilities as other DSLs. Obviously, some programmers would like to replace TableGen with a different, more powerful language, and this topic comes up from time to time in the LLVM discussion forum.
  • With the possibility of implementing your own backends, the TableGen language is very flexible. However, it also means that the semantics of a given definition are hidden inside the backend. Thus, you can create TableGen files that are basically not understandable by other developers.
  • And last, the backend implementation can be very complex if you try to solve a non-trivial task. It is reasonable to expect that this effort would be lower if the TableGen language were more powerful.

Even if not all developers are happy with the capabilities of TableGen, the tool is used widely in LLVM, and for a developer...