[cfe-dev] Using Clang to import C++ source in an interpreter

[Keno Fischer via cfe-dev]

Hi there,

this is definitely possible, but you'll find that it's not entirely
straightforward. As a starting point however,
I can point you to the two projects which do this already. Maybe you'll
find the code useful.

One is the Julia C++ Interface at https://github.com/Keno/Cxx.jl which uses
Clang to import C++ into julia.
The other is CERN's Cling at
https://github.com/root-mirror/root/tree/master/interpreter/cling.

There's some quirks to both of these. Cxx.jl for example doesn't include
any of the JIT-related stuff, because it expects to just be able to hand
off LLVM Function* pointers to the julia execution engine. Cling on the
other hand includes a lot of stuff specific to CERN's usage of it in their
ROOT framework.

I'd recommend you take a look at the two links and see if they are helpful.

On Sun, Jan 3, 2016 at 1:47 AM, Brian Hare via cfe-dev <
cfe-dev at lists.llvm.org> wrote:

>
> I am working on an interpreter for a computer language of my own design,
> and I'd like to allow my language to directly import C++ files.
>
> I need a clang libtool for a project I am working on. I need a function
> that can take in a file name of a C++ source or header file and return a
> structure that represents the structure of the source file. Many IDE's have
> a source tree that shows the global variables, functions, classes, etc...
> that are defined in a C++ file. I need a functional version of that. What
> would the best way of producing such a function be? Would I make a clang
> libtool?  How would I structure the tool? Is there any code or tool that I
> could look at for guidance?
>
> I have seen a number of the simple clang-tool examples online, but I have
> no idea how to extend them to do what I want.
>
> Furthermore, once I get a tree of variables, functions, and such, is there
> some way to JIT compile the functions and call them passing data from my
> external program to the JITed functions and back again?
>
> thanks,
> Brian Hare
>
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