[cfe-commits] PATCH: added clang-ast-dump tool

[Alexander Kornienko]

I've moved out common behavior and data for all command-line tools to a
separate class (CommandLineClangTool.cpp), added more help, added one
integration test for clang-ast-dump, added links to the recently added
tooling setup how to. This should address most of the issues. I've decided
to put off large-scale documentation efforts for now and first see how it
goes in practical sense.


On Thu, Jul 12, 2012 at 9:57 PM, Sean Silva <silvas at purdue.edu> wrote:

> +//===- examples/Tooling/ClangCheck.cpp - Clang check tool
> -----------------===//
>
> The file header is still the "ClangCheck" one.
>
> +//  This file implements a clang-ast-dump tool that dumps specified parts
> +//  of an AST of a number of translation units.
>
> This header comment is rather uninformative (as are many others in the
> clang codebase, unfortunately).
>
> It gives me a bit of a taste of what the tool does, but leaves me
> hanging. The parts that I think "leave me hanging" are:
>
> "dumps *specified* parts" (emphasis mine): how do I specify them? what
> things are matchable? can I use a regex? can I use the new ASTMatcher
> library (although IIRC the dynamic matchers are not merged yet, so the
> answer here is no)?
>
> "of a number of translation units": how do I specify them? do I need
> some kind of special setup? if so, how so I set it up?
>
> As a person interested in using this tool, and maybe hacking on it, I
> would like to at least see:
>
> * A high level description of the tool. As in all writing, remember
> your audience: they have already seen the filename, so they can
> already guess that it is related to "dumping ASTs"; thus a "high level
> description" is going to be one level lower than "it dumps ASTs".
> * Expected use cases and why this tool is needed (e.g. comparison with
> `clang -ast-dump`)
> * Quickstart. If a nontrivial setup is required, provide pointers to
> the relevant documentation.
> * Future directions you envision. One can only provide useful insight
> into future directions after grokking the tool; hence the original
> author is usually the best person to enunciate them. This usually
> provides insight into the context which brought the tool into
> existence and gives future hackers leads on where to continue.
>
> Thanks for the cool tool,
> --Sean Silva
>
> On Thu, Jul 12, 2012 at 10:27 AM, Alexander Kornienko <alexfh at google.com>
> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > This patch adds the clang-ast-dump tool based on the Clang Tooling
> > infrastructure. It can help users of AST matchers to explore and
> understand
> > AST by selectively dumping it. This is a first version aimed at
> collecting
> > feedback and feature requests.
> >
> > --
> > Regards,
> > Alexander
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > cfe-commits mailing list
> > cfe-commits at cs.uiuc.edu
> > http://lists.cs.uiuc.edu/mailman/listinfo/cfe-commits
> >
>



-- 
Alexander Kornienko | Software Engineer | alexfh at google.com | +49 151 221
77 957
Google Germany GmbH | Dienerstr. 12 | 80331 München
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