[cfe-dev] Introduction and Help Request for Scan, Parse, Codegen

[David Blaikie via cfe-dev]

On Tue, May 19, 2020 at 11:11 AM Allyn Shell via cfe-dev <
cfe-dev at lists.llvm.org> wrote:

> Greetings, my name is Allyn Shell I am the instructor of the Compiler
> Design with LLVM course at Johns Hopkins University Engineering for
> Professionals in the CS Department. (I have included my short bio as an
> introduction at the end of this email.)
>

Welcome to the LLVM community!

(for context I mostly work on LLVM's Debug Info (DWARF) support - so I
won't know everything about what you need to know, but I'll try to give
some rough ideas, at least)

 I spent the last two years updating the Compiler Design course to include
> LLVM
>

Sounds great!


> which required me to learn “everything” about the LLVM Project. There are
> several difficult steps that I could not overcome in two years of studying
> LLVM. I am writing to request help from the community to fill in these
> missing points which basically involve using clang to create a compiler for
> an imperative C like language (for teaching students how to do this).
>

Is Clang the right foundation for this, rather than LLVM? Clang is pretty
complicated by the needs of a production-focussed C++ compiler, and might
not be the best place to go tinkering to add new language support.


> It is easy to create a scanner and a parser using public domain tools, but
> when I reached the codegen to LLVM’s IR I quickly ran out of good guidance.
> The biggest help came from the LLVM Tutorials, but they are a little
> shallow and a little hard to follow at times due to what appears to be
> generations of updates.
>

Yep, documentation's rarely kept up to date or revisited wholesale to give
it consistent polish, etc.

If there's any particular bits you think might be improved - patches for
the documentation are most appreciated so the next person might have an
easier time than you did.


>  Are there LLVM based tools available to make the transition from AST to
> IR, and where do I find them?
>

Generic tools for custom AST to IR? Nothing I know of. The closest to
"tooling" that exists, certainly inside the LLVM project itself, is
IRBuilder - a helper API for building LLVM IR.


>  Is the transition between AST and IR mapped in a way that is compatible
> with the mappings used for debug and the IR to Machine Specific Object
> Code?
>

I'm not sure I understand the question, could you rephrase it? Myself and
Eric Christopher presented a tutorial at the LLVM developers meeting
several years ago about how to generate LLVM IR that includes debug
information that is then used by LLVM's middle (IR optimizations) and
backend (Machine Specific Object Code generation) to create DWARF (or
Windows CodeView) debug information, usable by a debugger like gdb, etc.


> Where can I find that information?
>

The written version of that tutorial is here:
https://llvm.org/docs/tutorial/MyFirstLanguageFrontend/LangImpl09.html


>
>
> Is there an LLVM specific scanner/parser pair that integrates with the AST
> to IR mapping?
>

Nope - LLVM doesn't really offer anything above the IR. Some utilities
(like IRBuilder and DIBuilder) to help create it - but what you use to
create it is entirely up to you.


> Where do I find information about them?
>
>
>
>  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
>
> Bio for Allyn Shell:
>
> I am the son of Dr. Donald L. Shell (author of the Shellsort). I am a
> Computer Scientist (semi-retired) and an Educator. I worked (indirectly)
> for NASA for 25 years building ground stations and simulators. I worked in
> missile defense for 10 years building simulators. Within industry I have
> taught seminars and short courses on a variety of topics including:
> Introductory Ada, Introductory C++, Advanced C++, Object Oriented Software
> Development, Introduction to Java, and Management of Ada Software
> Development. I am the author of the NASA/GSFC Standard Ada Pretty Printer
> (NASA/GSFC DSTL-88-003, May 1988) and is the co-author of the Ada Style
> Guide (NASA/GSFC SEL-87-002, May 1987). Recently, I authored the paper,
> “RISC Hardware and Simplified Software, Part 1: the Hardware.” and am
> currently writing “RISC Hardware and Simplified Software, Part 2: the
> Software.” I have four U.S. patents, as well as an EPO (European patent
> application) for a Multi-Level Marketing Computer Network Server (US
> Patents #6134533, 6415265, 6408281, 6691093 and EPO Patent Application #
> 97119108.5). I have a bachelor’s degree from Michigan Technical University
> in Applied Physics and a master’s degree in Computer Science from Johns
> Hopkins University. I am currently teaching the Foundations of Computer
> Architecture course and the Compiler Design with LLVM course.
>
>
>
> Allyn Shell
>
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>
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