LLVM (http://llvm.org/) is a backend for compilers.  It is portable to many platforms, well documened, and actively developed.  It seems that they are making great progress with it.

A crazy idea.  Has anyone considered using LLVM with D's front end?  I know Walter has his own back end, but it's seems hard for one guy to maintain both a front and back end, and do a good job at both.  Even a programming god like Walter.  If we had the LLVM team actively developing and innovating the back end, then Walter could focus on innovating the front end and the D language.  Just a thought.

-Craig

Craig Black wrote:
> LLVM (http://llvm.org/) is a backend for compilers.  It is portable to many platforms, well documened, and actively developed.  It seems that they are making great progress with it.
> 
> A crazy idea.  Has anyone considered using LLVM with D's front end?  I know Walter has his own back end, but it's seems hard for one guy to maintain both a front and back end, and do a good job at both.  Even a programming god like Walter.  If we had the LLVM team actively developing and innovating the back end, then Walter could focus on innovating the front end and the D language.  Just a thought.
> 
> -Craig 
> 
> 

I have tried it with LLVM's GCC and GDC.  It didn't work out-of-the-box, but I don't think it would take a whole lot of hackery.

 - Gregor Richards

> I have tried it with LLVM's GCC and GDC.  It didn't work out-of-the-box, but I don't think it would take a whole lot of hackery.
>
>  - Gregor Richards

How long ago did you try this?  LLVM just released a new 1.9 version that they claim is way better.  I'm not sure what you mean by out-of-the-box. But, like you say, I don't think it would be a massive effort.  It seems that LLVM is pretty well thought out.

-Craig

A third D compiler would be very cool, especially if its around when D goes 1.0.

Craig Black wrote:
>> I have tried it with LLVM's GCC and GDC.  It didn't work out-of-the-box, but I don't think it would take a whole lot of hackery.
>>
>>  - Gregor Richards
> 
> How long ago did you try this?  LLVM just released a new 1.9 version that they claim is way better.  I'm not sure what you mean by out-of-the-box. But, like you say, I don't think it would be a massive effort.  It seems that LLVM is pretty well thought out.
> 
> -Craig 
> 
> 

== Quote from Craig Black (cblack@ara.com)'s article
> LLVM (http://llvm.org/) is a backend for compilers.  It is portable to
> many platforms, well documened, and actively developed.  It seems that > they
are making great progress with it.
>
> A crazy idea.  Has anyone considered using LLVM with D's front end?

Someone has looked into doing this a couple years ago. I don't know if he ran into a serious problem (or perhaps just lost interest in the idea), but I'm guessing he never finished his project:

http://www.digitalmars.com/d/archives/D/gnu/762.html

Charlie wrote:
> A third D compiler would be very cool, especially if its around when D goes 1.0.
> 
> Craig Black wrote:
> 
>>> I have tried it with LLVM's GCC and GDC.  It didn't work out-of-the-box, but I don't think it would take a whole lot of hackery.
>>>
>>>  - Gregor Richards
>>
>>
>> How long ago did you try this?  LLVM just released a new 1.9 version that they claim is way better.  I'm not sure what you mean by out-of-the-box. But, like you say, I don't think it would be a massive effort.  It seems that LLVM is pretty well thought out.
>>
>> -Craig
>>

LLVM uses GCC, so in all fairness it would hardly be a third D compiler, it would just be another face of GDC.

 - Gregor Richards

Hmm, I don't think it uses GCC as a backend.

From the website: We find that LLVM is able to compile C++ into substantially better code than GCC .

It says it can use the GCC front-end for its LLVM backend, which I think is the opposite of GDC, which uses DMD front end to produce a tree usable by GCC backend.

I think DMD Frontend translated to LLVM backend would be completely independent of GCC, and the more compilers the better!

Charlie


Gregor Richards wrote:
> Charlie wrote:
>> A third D compiler would be very cool, especially if its around when D goes 1.0.
>>
>> Craig Black wrote:
>>
>>>> I have tried it with LLVM's GCC and GDC.  It didn't work out-of-the-box, but I don't think it would take a whole lot of hackery.
>>>>
>>>>  - Gregor Richards
>>>
>>>
>>> How long ago did you try this?  LLVM just released a new 1.9 version that they claim is way better.  I'm not sure what you mean by out-of-the-box. But, like you say, I don't think it would be a massive effort.  It seems that LLVM is pretty well thought out.
>>>
>>> -Craig
>>>
> 
> LLVM uses GCC, so in all fairness it would hardly be a third D compiler, it would just be another face of GDC.
> 
>  - Gregor Richards

Take a look at

http://llvm.org/pubs/2006-04-25-GelatoLLVMIntro.pdf

LLVM optionally uses GCC as a front end for C/C++ FORTRAN ADA and Java. It looks like the existing DMD front end could be adapted to LLVM

Wayne

Charlie Wrote:
> Hmm, I don't think it uses GCC as a backend.
>  From the website: We find that LLVM is able to compile C++ into
> substantially better code than GCC .
> It says it can use the GCC front-end for its LLVM backend, which I think
> is the opposite of GDC, which uses DMD front end to produce a tree
> usable by GCC backend.
> I think DMD Frontend translated to LLVM backend would be completely
> independent of GCC, and the more compilers the better!
> Charlie
> Gregor Richards wrote:
> > Charlie wrote:
> >> A third D compiler would be very cool, especially if its around when D goes 1.0.
> >>
> >> Craig Black wrote:
> >>
> >>>> I have tried it with LLVM's GCC and GDC.  It didn't work out-of-the-box, but I don't think it would take a whole lot of hackery.
> >>>>
> >>>>  - Gregor Richards
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> How long ago did you try this?  LLVM just released a new 1.9 version that they claim is way better.  I'm not sure what you mean by out-of-the-box. But, like you say, I don't think it would be a massive effort.  It seems that LLVM is pretty well thought out.
> >>>
> >>> -Craig
> >>>
> >
> > LLVM uses GCC, so in all fairness it would hardly be a third D compiler, it would just be another face of GDC.
> >
> >  - Gregor Richards

Great idea!
I just noticed however that their IR language has no "real" (long double)
float representation?

L.

Craig Black wrote:

> LLVM (http://llvm.org/) is a backend for compilers.  It is
> portable to many
> platforms, well documened, and actively developed.  It seems
> that they are making great progress with it.

Cool. A few weeks ago I wondered why there is not (well there is, but I wasn't aware of it) a comiler suite, where each step of the compilation process can be individually controlled. Now I know about LLVM. Thanks.

Wolfgang Draxinger
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