LLVM is an open-source compiler infrastructure used in many commercial and academic projects . It is written in C++ and it has a very modular design which allows all sorts of tools to be built on top of it: compilers, interpreters, static analyzers and so on.

We intend to introduce you to the world of compilers and related tools by using LLVM as a case study.

At the end of this workshop, you will know:

• How compilers in general work
• How to write compiler-based tools using LLVM's libraries
• What kind of optimizations to expect from a compiler
• How to write better C code

The phases of the compilation process

• Learn what steps the compiler takes in order to translate high level code into machine code

The general structure of LLVM

• See how LLVM is organized and why

Compiler-based tools

• Learn how to use various parts of LLVM in order to implement or support tools such as source-to-source translators or editors with syntax highlighting

C tips & tricks

• Look at what the compiler generates for various snippets of code and see how different constructs help or hinder the compiler

• Good knowledge of C/C++

The required software will be installed on the stations in the lab, but in case you want to bring your laptop you should try to install the following:

• LLVM (you can use the instructions here - note that you can generate files for several IDEs using CMake)
• Something for viewing .dot files (you can use XDot on Linux of GVEdit on Windows)
• An IDE is recommended
• Nice to have: LLVM IR syntax highlighting - alternatives include this Eclipse plugin, the vim plugin in the llvm/utils/vim directory and respectively the Emacs plugin in llvm/utils/emacs

E-mail: diana.vasile@freescale.com

E-mail: bogdan.ditu@freescale.com

E-mail: rene.palalau@freescale.com