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It's funny how few people there are (around me) that know about LLVM. When Java, PHP or C# gets new features things go crazy. But LLVM is like this secret weapo

It's funny how few people there are (around me) that know about LLVM. When Java, PHP or C# gets new features things go crazy. But LLVM is like this secret weapon that Apple (and others) have. Chugging along, getting more powerful, not asking for attention.

pjmlp 13y ago
LLVM has lots of nice features, but they are mainly interesting to C, C++ and Objective-C developers on desktop UNIX systems. So it tends to be ignored by the folks you mentioned. An interesting consequence of LLVM's popularity is that compiler researchers are moving away from JVM and .NET implementations to LLVM for their work.
- marcosscriven 13y ago
  I hadn't looked into LLVM at all until Emscripten came out, and before that I thought it was just a new C++ compiler. I had a go at converting a C++ prog to Javascript with it ( http://www.fabfabbers.com/openscad/ http://www.fabfabbers.com/openscad/ ) , and was totally astonished it worked. Since then I've read up a lot on compilers and language design - fascinating stuff I didn't really appreciate at university. If I were writing a new language today, I'd definitely just write an LLVM front end.
- MichaelGG 13y ago
  I understand the perf hit on the JVM can be terrible for some languages (less so for CLR), but it certainly is nice to immediately gain a massive set of libraries, as well as benefiting from the whole ecosystem of tooling. As I understand, LLVM just provides the codegen part, right? (Mono has an LLVM option for codegen.)
  - ed_blackburn 13y ago
    Mono does indeed have an LLVM backend. I have no idea if it is upto date with Mono, or LLVM. I'd love to know why one choose a difference compiler / VM. A fair comparison.
    - Skinney 13y ago
      It's pretty up to date. Xamarin (the company behind Mono) uses the LLVM-backend to create native C# applications to run on iOS (as iOS doesn't allow for JIT compilation).
  - lucian1900 13y ago
    Although I don't necessarily agree, many consider the "native" (C-ABI) tools and libraries to be sufficient.
fieryeagle 13y ago
On one hand, you have web developers. On the other hand, you have compiler engineers. The difference in communities is quite stark.
- Aissen 13y ago
  And in the middle you have those superstars JavaScript JIT engine developers that browser makers fight over.
  - fieryeagle 13y ago
    They are compiler engineers as well.

pjmlp 13y ago

LLVM has lots of nice features, but they are mainly interesting to C, C++ and Objective-C developers on desktop UNIX systems. So it tends to be ignored by the folks you mentioned. An interesting consequence of LLVM's popularity is that compiler researchers are moving away from JVM and .NET implementations to LLVM for their work.

marcosscriven 13y ago
I hadn't looked into LLVM at all until Emscripten came out, and before that I thought it was just a new C++ compiler. I had a go at converting a C++ prog to Javascript with it ( http://www.fabfabbers.com/openscad/ http://www.fabfabbers.com/openscad/ ) , and was totally astonished it worked. Since then I've read up a lot on compilers and language design - fascinating stuff I didn't really appreciate at university. If I were writing a new language today, I'd definitely just write an LLVM front end.
MichaelGG 13y ago
I understand the perf hit on the JVM can be terrible for some languages (less so for CLR), but it certainly is nice to immediately gain a massive set of libraries, as well as benefiting from the whole ecosystem of tooling. As I understand, LLVM just provides the codegen part, right? (Mono has an LLVM option for codegen.)
- ed_blackburn 13y ago
  Mono does indeed have an LLVM backend. I have no idea if it is upto date with Mono, or LLVM. I'd love to know why one choose a difference compiler / VM. A fair comparison.
  - Skinney 13y ago
    It's pretty up to date. Xamarin (the company behind Mono) uses the LLVM-backend to create native C# applications to run on iOS (as iOS doesn't allow for JIT compilation).
- lucian1900 13y ago
  Although I don't necessarily agree, many consider the "native" (C-ABI) tools and libraries to be sufficient.

fieryeagle 13y ago

On one hand, you have web developers. On the other hand, you have compiler engineers. The difference in communities is quite stark.

Aissen 13y ago
And in the middle you have those superstars JavaScript JIT engine developers that browser makers fight over.
- fieryeagle 13y ago
  They are compiler engineers as well.