This is basically just saying that LLVM has an IR. While going straight from AST to machine code may sound like a great thing for compilation speed, it makes co

This is basically just saying that LLVM has an IR. While going straight from AST to machine code may sound like a great thing for compilation speed, it makes compiler maintenance really tough. Many AOT-based compilers nowadays are converging on four levels of IR, which seems to be a sweet spot. (Swift has AST, SIL, LLVM IR, MachineInstr; Rust has AST, MIR, LLVM IR, MachineInstr; GCC has AST, GENERIC, GIMPLE, RTL.)