104 lines
4.6 KiB
HTML
104 lines
4.6 KiB
HTML
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
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<META http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" />
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<title>"clang" C Language Family Frontend for LLVM</title>
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<link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="content.css" />
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<!--#include virtual="menu.html.incl"-->
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<div id="content">
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<h1>clang: a C language family frontend for LLVM</h1>
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<p>The goal of the Clang project is to create a new C, C++, Objective C and
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Objective C++ front-end for the <a href="http://www.llvm.org/">LLVM</a>
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compiler.</p>
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<h2><a name="goals">Features and Goals</a></h2>
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<p>Some of the goals for the project include the following:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>Real-world, production quality compiler.</li>
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<li>A single unified parser for C, Objective C, C++, and Objective
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C++.</li>
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<li>Language conformance with these languages and their variants, like
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C90, C99, etc.</li>
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<li>GCC compatibility: support GCC extensions, but allow them to be
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disabled.</li>
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<li><a href="features.html#performance">High performance and low memory
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use</a>.</li>
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<li>Support many clients such as refactoring, static analysis, as well as
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code generation.</li>
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<li>Build a library-based architecture with finely crafted APIs, allowing
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the code to be reused in many ways.</li>
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<li>Design for integration with IDEs as well as code generation with the
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<a href="http://llvm.org">LLVM Optimizer and Code Generator</a>.</li>
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<li><a href="features.html#expressivediags">Expressive diagnostics</a>:
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warnings and errors that are actually helpful and make sense.</li>
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<li>Use the LLVM <a
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href="http://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/trunk/LICENSE.TXT">'BSD'
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License</a>.</li>
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<li>Finally, make the code clean and simple enough to make it understandable
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to anyone who knows the languages involved and has a basic idea of
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compilers work.</li>
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</ul>
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<p>Of course this is only a rough outline of the goals and features of
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Clang. To get a true sense of what it is all about, see the <a
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href="features.html">Features</a> section. The Features section breaks
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each of these down and explains them in more detail.</p>
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<h2>Why?</h2>
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<p>The development of a new front-end was started out of a need -- a need
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for a compiler that allows better diagnostics, better integration with
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IDEs, a license that is compatible with commercial products, and a
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nimble compiler that is easy to develop and maintain. All of these were
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motivations for starting work on a new front-end that could
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meet these needs.</p>
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<p>A good (but quite dated) introduction to Clang can be found in the
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following video lectures:</p>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="clang_video-05-25-2007.html">Clang Introduction</a>
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(May 2007)</li>
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<li><a href="clang_video-07-25-2007.html">Features and Performance of
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Clang</a> (July 2007)</li>
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</ul>
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<p>For a more detailed comparison between Clang and other compilers, please
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see the <a href="comparison.html">clang comparison page</a>.</p>
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<h2>Current Status</h2>
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<p>Clang is still in early development stages. If you are looking for
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source analysis or source-to-source transformation tools, clang is probably
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a great solution for you. If you want to use it as a drop in C compiler, it
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is not yet ready.</p>
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<p>Clang currently has pretty good parsing and semantic analysis support for
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C and Objective-C right now, and bugs are usually quickly fixed once
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reported. C++ support is still very early, and we don't expect to have
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respectable C++ support for another 2 years or so.</p>
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<h2>Get Involved</h2>
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<p>The developers of Clang include contributers from Apple and numerous
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other volunteers. If you are interested in joining the community or
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learning more, please consider joining the <a
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href="http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/cfe-dev">cfe-dev</a>
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mailing list, or start by browsing its archives.</p>
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<p>If you are interested in trying out Clang, please see the build
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instructions on the <a href="get_involved.html#build">Get Involved</a>
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page.</p>
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</div>
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</body>
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</html>
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