[LLVMdev] does llvm support type checking?

[Gordon Henriksen]

On 2008-07-05, at 23:35, kirbature wrote:

> Recently I was looking up LLVM on net and I stumbled upon a pdf  
> called "2008-05-17-BSDCan-LLVMIntro.pdf". What makes this somewhat  
> general introduction to llvm interesting for me is the fact that it  
> mentions (on page 30 if you are curious) that it supports "Type  
> Checking and Semantic Analysis - Builds Abstract Syntax Trees (AST)  
> for valid input"!!! I find this surprising because I knew nothing  
> about type checking being implemented in llvm. I am not much of a  
> compiler guy (and I dont know much about llvm), but type checking  
> has always been an amazing idea to me simply because of how many  
> common errors it would prevent from inputs getting messed up. Why  
> isnt it being advertised more? When I googled "llvm + type checking"  
> I just got obscure questions/answers and the term being thrown  
> haphazardly in broad descriptions of the what llvm can do. Is this  
> really a feature that is going/already has been implemented?


LLVM does not build ASTs. You were probably reading a description of  
clang, a C compiler built on LLVM.

     http://clang.llvm.org/

LLVM has a low-level type system, but does not attempt to provide a  
safe execution environment like the type systems in a Java VM or  
the .NET runtime. It is detailed in the manual.

     http://llvm.org/docs/LangRef.html

— Gordon