1<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" 2 "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd"> 3<!-- Material used from: HTML 4.01 specs: http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/ --> 4<html> 5<head> 6 <META http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> 7 <title>"clang" C Language Family Frontend for LLVM</title> 8 <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="menu.css"> 9 <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="content.css"> 10</head> 11<body> 12<!--#include virtual="menu.html.incl"--> 13<div id="content"> 14 <!--*********************************************************************--> 15 <h1>clang: a C language family frontend for LLVM</h1> 16 <!--*********************************************************************--> 17 18 <p>The goal of the Clang project is to create a new C, C++, Objective C and 19 Objective C++ front-end for the <a href="http://www.llvm.org/">LLVM</a> 20 compiler. You can <a href="get_started.html">get and build</a> the source 21 today.</p> 22 23 <!--=====================================================================--> 24 <h2 id="goals">Features and Goals</h2> 25 <!--=====================================================================--> 26 27 <p>Some of the goals for the project include the following:</p> 28 29 <p><b><a href="features.html#enduser">End-User Features</a></b>:</p> 30 31 <ul> 32 <li>Fast compiles and low memory use</li> 33 <li>Expressive diagnostics (<a href="diagnostics.html">examples</a>)</li> 34 <li>GCC compatibility</li> 35 </ul> 36 37 <p><b><a href="features.html#applications">Utility and 38 Applications</a></b>:</p> 39 40 <ul> 41 <li>Modular library based architecture</li> 42 <li>Support diverse clients (refactoring, static analysis, code generation, 43 etc)</li> 44 <li>Allow tight integration with IDEs</li> 45 <li>Use the LLVM 'BSD' License</li> 46 </ul> 47 48 <p><b><a href="features.html#design">Internal Design and 49 Implementation</a></b>:</p> 50 51 <ul> 52 <li>A real-world, production quality compiler</li> 53 <li>A simple and hackable code base</li> 54 <li>A single unified parser for C, Objective C, C++, and Objective C++</li> 55 <li>Conformance with C/C++/ObjC and their variants</li> 56 </ul> 57 58 <p>Of course this is only a rough outline of the goals and features of 59 Clang. To get a true sense of what it is all about, see the <a 60 href="features.html">Features</a> section, which breaks 61 each of these down and explains them in more detail.</p> 62 63 64 <!--=====================================================================--> 65 <h2>Why?</h2> 66 <!--=====================================================================--> 67 68 <p>The development of a new front-end was started out of a need -- a need 69 for a compiler that allows better diagnostics, better integration with 70 IDEs, a license that is compatible with commercial products, and a 71 nimble compiler that is easy to develop and maintain. All of these were 72 motivations for starting work on a new front-end that could 73 meet these needs.</p> 74 75 <p>A good (but quite dated) introduction to Clang can be found in the 76 following video lectures:</p> 77 78 <ul> 79 <li><a href="clang_video-05-25-2007.html">Clang Introduction</a> 80 (May 2007)</li> 81 <li><a href="clang_video-07-25-2007.html">Features and Performance of 82 Clang</a> (July 2007)</li> 83 </ul> 84 85 <p>For a more detailed comparison between Clang and other compilers, please 86 see the <a href="comparison.html">clang comparison page</a>.</p> 87 88 <!--=====================================================================--> 89 <h2>Current Status</h2> 90 <!--=====================================================================--> 91 92 <p>Clang is still under heavy development. Clang is considered to 93 be a production quality C, Objective-C, C++ and Objective-C++ compiler when 94 targeting X86-32, X86-64, and ARM (other targets may have caveats, but are 95 usually easy to fix). If you are looking for source analysis or 96 source-to-source transformation tools, clang is probably a great 97 solution for you. Clang supports C++11, please see the <a 98 href="cxx_status.html">C++ status</a> page for more 99 information.</p> 100 101 <!--=====================================================================--> 102 <h2>Get it and get involved!</h2> 103 <!--=====================================================================--> 104 105 <p>Start by <a href="get_started.html">getting the code, building it, and 106 playing with it</a>. This will show you the sorts of things we can do 107 today and will let you have the "clang experience" first hand: hopefully 108 it will "resonate" with you. :)</p> 109 110 <p>Once you've done that, please consider <a href="get_involved.html">getting 111 involved in the clang community</a>. The clang developers include numerous 112 volunteer contributors with a variety of backgrounds. If you're 113 interested in 114 following the development of clang, signing up for a mailing list is a good 115 way to learn about how the project works.</p> 116</div> 117</body> 118</html> 119