Learn LLVM 17

Learn how to build and use all parts of real-world compilers, including the frontend, optimization pipeline, and a new backend by leveraging the power of LLVM core libraries


Key Features

Get to grips with effectively using LLVM libraries step-by-step
Understand LLVM compiler high-level design and apply the same principles to your own compiler
Add a new backend to target an unsupported CPU architecture

Book DescriptionLLVM was built to bridge the gap between compiler textbooks and actual compiler development. It provides a modular codebase and advanced tools which help developers to build compilers easily. This book provides a practical introduction to LLVM, gradually helping you navigate through complex scenarios with ease when it comes to building and working with compilers.

You'll start by configuring, building, and installing LLVM libraries, tools, and external projects. Next, the book will introduce you to LLVM's design, unraveling its practical 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 from it. Advanced chapters cover how to extend LLVM with a new pass, and how to use LLVM tools to debug and raise the quality of your code. You'll also focus on Just-in-Time compilation issues and the current state of JIT-compilation support that LLVM provides, before finally going on to understand how to develop a new backend for LLVM, which introduces you to the target description and how instruction selection works.

By the end of this book, you'll have practical, hands-on experience with the LLVM compiler development framework through real-world examples and source code snippets.What you will learn

Configure, compile, and install the LLVM framework
Understand how the LLVM source is organized
Discover what you need to do to use LLVM in your own projects
Explore how a compiler is structured, and implement a tiny compiler
Generate LLVM IR for common source language constructs
Set up an optimization pipeline and tailor it for your own needs
Extend LLVM with transformation passes and clang tooling
Add new machine instructions and a complete backend

Who this book is forThis book is for compiler developers, enthusiasts, and engineers who are new to LLVM and are interested in learning about the LLVM framework. It is also useful for C++ software engineers looking to use compiler-based tools for code analysis and improvement, as well as casual users of LLVM libraries who want to gain more knowledge of LLVM essentials. Intermediate-level experience with C++ programming is mandatory to understand the concepts covered in this book more effectively.