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LLVM is a compiler construction, not a compiler.

If I understand, no languages offer the same assurances, I remember GodBolt is a nice way to explore how it's compile to assembly code you can compare.

https://rust.godbolt.org https://gcc.godbolt.org https://go.godbolt.org




Help me out. What is compiler construction?


Most compilers can be broken up into two steps, which is what we call a front end and back end. [1] The front end of a compiler does syntactical (parsing + lexing) and semantic analysis (type checking, etc). The back end of a compiler takes in an intermediate representation of the code, performs optimizations, and emits the assembly language for a target CPU. Clang is an example of a front end and LLVM is the back end for Clang. Clang and rustc both share LLVM as a back end, meaning they both emit LLVM IR.

[1] Many compilers have much more than two stages. For example, Rust has another intermediate representation called MIR.


Many thanks, kind stranger.




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