[cfe-dev] clang documents

[Jacob Carlborg]

On 2012-03-09 10:23, Zhe Chen wrote:
>> On 3/8/2012 1:26 PM, John Criswell wrote:
>>>
>>> On 3/8/12 6:38 AM, Zhe Chen wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Dear collegues,
>>>>         I would like to study clang for code analysis research. For
>>>> example, I need to traverse and even instrument the generated AST.
>>>>         However, I am now a beginner to clang. I don't know where to
>>>> start, e.g. reading its code base. I would like to know if somebody
>>>> has documents on clang's architecture and modules. I don't think that
>>>> clang API documents (http://clang.llvm.org/doxygen/) are good for
>>>> beginners. Maybe I need more detailed explainations. Please give me
>>>> some suggestions.
>>>>         Thanks!
>>>
>>> Have you examined the documentation on the Clang web page (such as
>>> http://clang.llvm.org/docs/InternalsManual.html)?
>>
>>
>> I'm finding it useful  to stick to the C interface to Clang, as opposed to
>> jumping straight
>> in to the full codebase.  The C interface is I guess meant to be minimal but
>> fairly
>> complete, so it's a lot easier to follow the intended usages, and to get
>> familiar
>> with what are the core components.
>>
>> Writing some sample code using just the APIs exposed in
>> 'include/clang-c/Index.h'
>> is, I think, the easiest way to get going.
>>
>>
>> Kevin
>
> Yes, I have carefully read the full internals Manual. I think
> that it only introduces the major internal design decisions made in
> Clang, rather than detailed modules or classes. But I am trying to
> understand the architecture of Clang's codebase.
>      About the C interface to Clang in 'include/clang-c/Index.h', I
> have some questions:
> 1. where can I find the implementation of the functions defined in index.h ?
> 2. how these C style interfaces can be used ? where can I find some examples?

1. The implementation of the functions in index.h is located here: 
http://llvm.org/svn/llvm-project/cfe/trunk/tools/libclang/

2. Here are some API documentation of the C functions:
http://clang.llvm.org/doxygen/modules.html

Here are two talks about clang that can be used as documentation:

Slides: http://llvm.org/devmtg/2010-11/Gregor-libclang.pdf
Video: http://devimages.apple.com/llvm/videos/Libclang.mov

Slides: http://llvm.org/devmtg/2011-11/Gregor_ExtendingClang.pdf
Video: http://devimages.apple.com/llvm/videos/ExtendingClang.m4v

This is a project I'm working on using clang. It's a source-to-source 
translator that translate Objective-C/C code to D. It's written in D but 
it should be that hard to understand and follow.

https://github.com/jacob-carlborg/dstep

-- 
/Jacob Carlborg