clang/www/index.html

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  15   <h1>Clang: a C language family frontend for LLVM</h1>
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  17
  18   <p>The Clang project provides a language front-end and tooling infrastructure
  19   for languages in the C language family (C, C++, Objective C/C++, OpenCL,
  20   CUDA, and RenderScript) for the <a href="https://www.llvm.org/">LLVM</a>
  21   project. Both a GCC-compatible compiler driver (<tt>clang</tt>) and an
  22   MSVC-compatible compiler driver (<tt>clang-cl.exe</tt>) are provided. You
  23   can <a href="get_started.html">get and build</a> the source today.</p>
  24
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  26   <h2 id="goals">Features and Goals</h2>
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  28
  29   <p>Some of the goals for the project include the following:</p>
  30
  31   <p><b><a href="features.html#enduser">End-User Features</a></b>:</p>
  32
  33   <ul>
  34   <li>Fast compiles and low memory use</li>
  35   <li>Expressive diagnostics (<a href="diagnostics.html">examples</a>)</li>
  36   <li>GCC compatibility</li>
  37   </ul>
  38
  39   <p><b><a href="features.html#applications">Utility and
  40      Applications</a></b>:</p>
  41
  42   <ul>
  43   <li>Modular library based architecture</li>
  44   <li>Support diverse clients (refactoring, static analysis, code generation,
  45    etc.)</li>
  46   <li>Allow tight integration with IDEs</li>
  47   <li>Use the LLVM 'Apache 2' License</li>
  48   </ul>
  49
  50   <p><b><a href="features.html#design">Internal Design and
  51      Implementation</a></b>:</p>
  52
  53   <ul>
  54   <li>A real-world, production quality compiler</li>
  55   <li>A simple and hackable code base</li>
  56   <li>A single unified parser for C, Objective C, C++, and Objective C++</li>
  57   <li>Conformance with C/C++/ObjC and their variants</li>
  58   </ul>
  59
  60   <p>Of course this is only a rough outline of the goals and features of
  61      Clang.  To get a true sense of what it is all about, see the <a
  62      href="features.html">Features</a> section, which breaks
  63      each of these down and explains them in more detail.</p>
  64
  65
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  67   <h2>Why?</h2>
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  69
  70   <p>Development of the new front-end was started out of a need
  71      for a compiler that allows better diagnostics, better integration with
  72      IDEs, a license that is compatible with commercial products, and a
  73      nimble compiler that is easy to develop and maintain.  All of these were
  74      motivations for starting work on a new front-end that could
  75      meet these needs.</p>
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  78   <h2>Current Status</h2>
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  80
  81   <p>Clang is considered to
  82    be a production quality C, Objective-C, C++ and Objective-C++ compiler when
  83    targeting X86-32, X86-64, and ARM (other targets may have caveats, but are
  84    usually easy to fix). As example, Clang is used in production to build
  85    performance-critical software like Chrome or Firefox.<br />  If you are looking
  86    for source analysis or source-to-source transformation tools, Clang is probably
  87    a great solution for you.  Clang supports C++11, C++14 and C++17, please see
  88    the <a href="cxx_status.html">C++ status</a> page for more information.</p>
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  91   <h2>Get it and get involved!</h2>
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  93
  94   <p>Start by <a href="get_started.html">getting the code, building it, and
  95      playing with it</a>.  This will show you the sorts of things we can do
  96      today and will let you have the "Clang experience" first hand: hopefully
  97      it will "resonate" with you. :)</p>
  98
  99   <p>Once you've done that, please consider <a href="get_involved.html">getting
 100      involved in the Clang community</a>.  The Clang developers include numerous
 101      volunteer contributors with a variety of backgrounds.  If you're
 102      interested in
 103      following the development of Clang, signing up for a mailing list is a good
 104      way to learn about how the project works.</p>
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