[LLVMdev] Some understanding of LLVM vs gCC vs Intel C++ Compilers

[Chris Lattner]

On Jun 14, 2009, at 6:09 PM, Jason Todd Slack-Moehrle wrote:
> Hi All,

Hi Jason,

Sam's response is right on for general guidance, here is some mac- 
specific guidance.

> I have spent a better part of my 32 years on this earth writing
> Solaris software and more recently leaving that and returning back to
> Mac OS.
>
> I obviously know about GCC and the Intel C++ Compilers.
>
> I am looking to have more freedom and flexibility along with producing
> better quality software.
>
> How does LLVm fit in?

The llvm project provides two open source compilers, llvm-gcc and  
clang.  Clang is considered production quality on the mac for C and  
ObjC.  llvm-gcc on the mac supports c/objc/c++/objc++.  Apple  
productizes these and ships them with the Xcode installation.

> I know that it is a C/C++ Compiler, but how do I use it? Is it
> Makefile based?
>
> Does it replace GCC?

Both llvm-gcc and clang work as drop in replacements for GCC.  They  
take the same command line options etc, and are both quite usable on  
the command line.

> Can one build full OS X applications with it? (What I mean is dont
> need to use XCode or anything if I dont want to)

Yes, absolutely.

-Chris