book

Clang Compiler Frontend

Name: Clang Compiler Frontend
Author: Ivan Murashko
ISBN: 9781837630981

by Ivan Murashko

March 2024

Intermediate to advanced

326 pages

5h 38m

English

Packt Publishing

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Preface
Who this book is forWhat this book coversTo get the most out of this bookDownload the example code filesConventions usedGet in touchShare your thoughtsDownload a free PDF copy of this book
Part I: Clang Setup and Architecture
Chapter 1: Environment Setup
1.1 Technical requirements1.1.1 CMake as project configuration tool1.1.2 Ninja as build tool1.2 Getting to know LLVM1.2.1 Short LLVM history1.2.2 OS support1.2.3 LLVM/Clang project structure1.3 Source code compilation1.3.1 Configuration with CMake1.3.2 Build1.3.3 The LLVM debugger, its build, and usage1.4 Test project – syntax check with a Clang tool1.5 Summary1.6 Further reading
Chapter 2: Clang Architecture
2.1 Technical requirements2.2 Getting started with compilers2.2.1 Exploring the compiler workflow2.2.2 Frontend2.3 Clang driver overview2.3.1 Example program2.3.2 Compilation phases2.3.3 Tool execution2.3.4 Combining it all together2.3.5 Debugging Clang2.4 Clang frontend overview2.4.1 Frontend action2.4.2 Preprocessor2.4.3 Parser and sema2.5 Summary2.6 Further reading
Chapter 3: Clang AST
3.1 Technical requirements3.2 AST3.2.1 Statements3.2.2 Declarations3.2.3 Types3.3 AST traversal3.3.1 DeclVisitor test tool3.3.2 Visitor implementation3.4 Recursive AST visitor3.5 AST matchers3.6 Explore Clang AST with clang-query3.7 Processing AST in the case of errors3.8 Summary3.9 Further reading
Chapter 4: Basic Libraries and Tools
4.1 Technical requirements4.2 LLVM coding style4.3 LLVM basic libraries4.3.1 RTTI replacement and cast operators4.3.2 Containers4.3.3 Smart pointers4.4 Clang basic libraries4.4.1 SourceManager and SourceLocation4.4.2 Diagnostics support4.5 LLVM supporting tools4.5.1 TableGen4.5.2 LLVM test framework4.6 Clang plugin project4.6.1 Environment setup4.6.2 CMake build configuration for plugin4.6.3 Recursive visitor class4.6.4 Plugin AST consumer class4.6.5 Plugin AST action class4.6.6 Plugin code4.6.7 Building and running plugin code4.6.8 LIT tests for clang plugin4.7 Summary4.8 Further reading
Part II: Clang Tools
Chapter 5: Clang-Tidy Linter Framework
5.1 Technical requirements5.2 Overview of Clang-Tidy and usage examples5.2.1 Building and testing Clang-Tidy5.2.2 Clang-Tidy usage5.2.3 Clang-Tidy checks5.3 Clang-Tidy’s internal design5.3.1 Internal organization5.3.2 Configuration and integration5.4 Custom Clang-Tidy check5.4.1 Creating a skeleton for the check5.4.2 Clang-Tidy check implementation5.4.3 LIT test5.4.4 Results in the case of compilation errors5.4.5 Compilation errors as edge cases5.5 Summary5.6 Further reading
Chapter 6: Advanced Code Analysis
6.1 Technical requirements6.2 Static analysis6.3 CFG6.4 Custom CFG check6.4.1 Creating the project skeleton6.4.2 Check implementation6.4.3 Building and testing the cyclomatic complexity check6.5 CFG on Clang6.5.1 CFG construction by example6.5.2 CFG construction implementation details6.6 Brief description of Clang analysis tools6.7 Knowing the limitations of analysis6.8 Summary6.9 Future reading
Chapter 7: Refactoring Tools
7.1 Technical requirements7.2 Custom code modification tool7.2.1 Code modification support at Clang7.2.2 Test class7.2.3 Visitor class implementation7.2.4 Consumer class implementation7.2.5 Build configuration and main function7.2.6 Running the code modification tool7.3 Clang-Tidy as a code modification tool7.3.1 FixItHint7.3.2 Creating project skeleton7.3.3 Check implementation7.3.4 Build and run the check7.4 Code modification and Clang-Format7.4.1 Clang-Format configuration and usage examples7.4.2 Design considerations7.4.3 Clang-Tidy and Clang-Format7.5 Summary7.6 Further reading

Chapter 8: IDE Support and Clangd
8.1 Technical requirements8.2 Language Server Protocol8.3 Environment setup8.3.1 Clangd build8.3.2 VS Code installation and setup8.4 LSP demo8.4.1 Demo description8.4.2 LSP session8.5 Integration with Clang tools8.5.1 Clangd support for code formatting using LSP messages8.5.2 Clang-Tidy8.6 Performance optimizations8.6.1 Optimizations for modified documents8.6.2 Building preamble optimization8.7 Summary8.8 Further reading
Part III: Appendix
Appendix 1: Compilation Database
9.1 Compilation database definition9.2 CDB creation9.3 Clang tools and a CDB9.4 Further reading
Appendix 2: Build Speed Optimization
10.1 Technical requirements10.2 Precompiled headers10.3 Clang modules10.4 Further reading
Bibliography
Index
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Overview

This book introduces you to the Clang compiler frontend, an essential tool for C and C++ developers interesting in extending their capabilities through custom tools and improved workflows. It takes a detailed look at Clang's internals and teaches specific techniques for creating tools like linters, refactorers, and IDE enhancements.

What this Book will help me do

Understand the architecture and function of the Clang compiler.
Create custom tools using Clang's capabilities and AST matchers.
Implement static code analysis and improve code quality through lint checks.
Enhance developer workflows by integrating with IDEs using Clang tools.
Learn to optimize build processes and utilize advanced Clang features.

Author(s)

Ivan Murashko is an experienced software engineer with a keen interest in compiler technology and developer tools. With extensive expertise in C language and the LLVM ecosystem, Ivan shares his knowledge through this insightful guide to help fellow developers enhance their development productivity and code quality.

Who is it for?

This book is ideal for C and C++ developers who are familiar with programming concepts and wish to delve into compiler internals to extend their knowledge. Readers interested in static analysis, refactoring tools, or creating custom development tools will benefit immensely. Whether you aim to streamline your coding process or explore compiler technology, this book is perfect for you.

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