Clang C Language Family Frontend for LLVM

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">  <html> <head> <META http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <title>Clang C Language Family Frontend for LLVM</title> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="menu.css"> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="content.css"> </head> <body> <div id="menu"> <div> <a href="http://llvm.org/">LLVM Home</a> </div> <div class="submenu"> <label>Clang Info</label> <a href="http://llvm.org/releases/download.html">Download</a> <a href="/index.html">About</a> <a href="/features.html">Features</a> <a href="/related.html">Related Projects</a> <a href="/docs/UsersManual.html">User's Manual</a> <a href="/compatibility.html">Language Compatibility</a> <a href="/docs/LanguageExtensions.html">Language Extensions</a> <a href="/c_status.html">C Status</a> <a href="/cxx_status.html">C++ Status</a> </div> <div class="submenu"> <label>Clang Development</label> <a href="/get_started.html">Get Started</a> <a href="/get_involved.html">Get Involved</a> <a href="/OpenProjects.html">Open Projects</a> <a href="/docs/InternalsManual.html">Clang Internals</a> <a href="/hacking.html">Hacking on Clang</a> </div> <div class="submenu"> <label>Clang Tools</label> <a href="http://clang-analyzer.llvm.org">Automatic Bug-Finding</a> <a href="/docs/Tooling.html">Writing Clang Tools</a> </div> <div class="submenu"> <label>Communication</label> <a href="https://discourse.llvm.org/c/clang">Clang Forum</a> <a href="http://lists.llvm.org/mailman/listinfo/cfe-commits">cfe-commits List</a> <a href="https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues">Bug Reports</a> <a href="irc://irc.oftc.net/llvm">IRC: irc.oftc.net#llvm</a> </div> <div class="submenu"> <label>The Code</label> <a href="/get_started.html#build">Check Out Sources</a> <a href="https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/tree/main/clang/">Browse Sources</a> <a href="http://clang.llvm.org/doxygen/">doxygen</a> </div> <div class="submenu"> <label>Clang Events</label> <a href="http://llvm.org/devmtg/">LLVM Meeting</a> </div> </div> <div id="content">  <h1>Clang: a C language family frontend for LLVM</h1>  <p>The Clang project provides a language front-end and tooling infrastructure for languages in the C language family (C, C++, Objective C/C++, OpenCL, and CUDA) for the <a href="https://www.llvm.org/">LLVM</a> project. Both a GCC-compatible compiler driver (<tt>clang</tt>) and an MSVC-compatible compiler driver (<tt>clang-cl.exe</tt>) are provided. You can <a href="get_started.html">get and build</a> the source today.</p>  <h2 id="goals">Features and Goals</h2>  <p>Some of the goals for the project include the following:</p> <p><b><a href="features.html#enduser">End-User Features</a></b>:</p> <ul> <li>Fast compiles and low memory use</li> <li>Expressive diagnostics (<a href="diagnostics.html">examples</a>)</li> <li>GCC & MSVC compatibility</li> </ul> <p><b><a href="features.html#applications">Utility and Applications</a></b>:</p> <ul> <li>Modular library based architecture</li> <li>Support diverse clients (refactoring, static analysis, code generation, etc.)</li> <li>Allow tight integration with IDEs</li> <li>Use the LLVM 'Apache 2' <a href="https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/main/LICENSE.TXT">License</a> </li> </ul> <p><b><a href="features.html#design">Internal Design and Implementation</a></b>:</p> <ul> <li>A real-world, production quality compiler</li> <li>A simple and hackable code base</li> <li>A single unified parser for C, Objective C, C++, and Objective C++</li> <li>Conformance with C/C++/ObjC and their variants</li> </ul> <p>Of course this is only a rough outline of the goals and features of Clang. To get a true sense of what it is all about, see the <a href="features.html">Features</a> section, which breaks each of these down and explains them in more detail.</p>  <h2>Why?</h2>  <p>Development of the new front-end was started out of a need for a compiler that allows better diagnostics, better integration with IDEs, a license that is compatible with commercial products, and a nimble compiler that is easy to develop and maintain. All of these were motivations for starting work on a new front-end that could meet these needs.</p>  <h2>Current Status</h2>  <p>Clang is considered to be a production quality C, Objective-C, C++ and Objective-C++ compiler when targeting any target supported by LLVM. As example, Clang is used in production to build performance-critical software like Chrome or Firefox. <br /> If you are looking for source analysis or source-to-source transformation tools, Clang is probably a great solution for you. Please see the <a href="cxx_status.html">C++ status</a> page or the <a href="c_status.html">C status</a> page for more information about what standard modes and features are supported.</p>  <h2>Get it and get involved!</h2>  <p>Start by <a href="get_started.html">getting the code, building it, and playing with it</a>. This will show you the sorts of things we can do today and will let you have the "Clang experience" first hand: hopefully it will "resonate" with you. :)</p> <p>Once you've done that, please consider <a href="get_involved.html">getting involved in the Clang community</a>. The Clang developers include numerous volunteer contributors with a variety of backgrounds. If you're interested in following the development of Clang, signing up for a mailing list is a good way to learn about how the project works.</p> </div> </body> </html>

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Clang C Language Family Frontend for LLVM