You're reading from LLVM Code Generation A deep dive into compiler backend development

Product type Paperback

Published in May 2025

Publisher Packt

ISBN-13 9781837637782

Length 620 pages

Edition 1st Edition

Languages

C++

Tools

LLVM

Concepts

Programming Language

Author (1):

Quentin Colombet

View More author details

Table of Contents (30) Chapters

Preface

1. Part 1: Getting Started with LLVM

2. Building LLVM and Understanding the Directory Structure FREE CHAPTER

3. Contributing to LLVM

4. Compiler Basics and How They Map to LLVM APIs

5. Writing Your First Optimization

6. Dealing with Pass Managers

7. TableGen – LLVM Swiss Army Knife for Modeling

8. Part 2: Middle-End: LLVM IR to LLVM IR

9. Understanding LLVM IR

10. Survey of the Existing Passes

11. Introducing Target-Specific Constructs

12. Hands-On Debugging LLVM IR Passes

13. Part 3: Introduction to the Backend

14. Getting Started with the Backend

15. Getting Started with the Machine Code Layer

16. The Machine Pass Pipeline

17. Part 4: LLVM IR to Machine IR

18. Getting Started with Instruction Selection

19. Instruction Selection: The IR Building Phase

20. Instruction Selection: The Legalization Phase

21. Instruction Selection: The Selection Phase and Beyond

22. Part 5: Final Lowering and Optimizations

23. Instruction Scheduling

24. Register Allocation

25. Lowering of the Stack Layout

26. Getting Started with the Assembler

27. Unlock Your Book’s Exclusive Benefits

28. Other Books You May Enjoy

29. Index

Contributing patches

Now, you feel confident enough to contribute patches – great!

Remember that you do not have to start with hard-to-fix problems. You can start by fixing small issues or typos! Whatever helps get you started with the process is a good learning experience.

LLVM features a label good first issue that you can use to search for issues that are supposed to be simple enough to get started. Just remember that this label is manually set, and it is possible that the person who set it has misjudged the difficulty of the problem. The bottom line is that it is okay to feel that even starter tasks are too difficult sometimes.

To get you started, feel free to reach out on the LLVM Discord server (https://discord.com/invite/xS7Z362) to existing contributors. Often, contributors will be happy to mentor you in looking into specific issues. Look at the CODE_OWNERS.TXT file for a list of people that you can reach out to for various components. You can also check...