<li><a href="#globalvars">Global Variables</a></li>
<li><a href="#functionstructure">Functions</a></li>
<li><a href="#aliasstructure">Aliases</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#namedmetadatastructure">Named Metadata</a></li>
<li><a href="#paramattrs">Parameter Attributes</a></li>
<li><a href="#fnattrs">Function Attributes</a></li>
<li><a href="#gc">Garbage Collector Names</a></li>
<li><a href="#undefvalues">Undefined Values</a></li>
<li><a href="#blockaddress">Addresses of Basic Blocks</a></li>
<li><a href="#constantexprs">Constant Expressions</a></li>
- <li><a href="#metadata">Embedded Metadata</a></li>
</ol>
</li>
<li><a href="#othervalues">Other Values</a>
<ol>
<li><a href="#inlineasm">Inline Assembler Expressions</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#metadata">Metadata Nodes and Metadata Strings</a></li>
</ol>
</li>
<li><a href="#intrinsic_globals">Intrinsic Global Variables</a>
<i>; Call puts function to write out the string to stdout.</i>
<a href="#i_call">call</a> i32 @puts(i8 * %cast210) <i>; i32</i>
- <a href="#i_ret">ret</a> i32 0<br>}<br>
+ <a href="#i_ret">ret</a> i32 0<br>}
+
+<i>; Named metadata</i>
+!1 = metadata !{i32 41}
+!foo = !{!1, null}
</pre>
</div>
<p>This example is made up of a <a href="#globalvars">global variable</a> named
- "<tt>.LC0</tt>", an external declaration of the "<tt>puts</tt>" function, and
+ "<tt>.LC0</tt>", an external declaration of the "<tt>puts</tt>" function,
a <a href="#functionstructure">function definition</a> for
- "<tt>main</tt>".</p>
+ "<tt>main</tt>" and <a href="#namedmetadatastructure">named metadata</a>
+ "<tt>foo"</tt>.</p>
<p>In general, a module is made up of a list of global values, where both
functions and global variables are global values. Global values are
<dt><tt><b><a name="linkage_linkonce">linkonce</a></b></tt></dt>
<dd>Globals with "<tt>linkonce</tt>" linkage are merged with other globals of
- the same name when linkage occurs. This is typically used to implement
- inline functions, templates, or other code which must be generated in each
- translation unit that uses it. Unreferenced <tt>linkonce</tt> globals are
- allowed to be discarded.</dd>
+ the same name when linkage occurs. This can be used to implement
+ some forms of inline functions, templates, or other code which must be
+ generated in each translation unit that uses it, but where the body may
+ be overridden with a more definitive definition later. Unreferenced
+ <tt>linkonce</tt> globals are allowed to be discarded. Note that
+ <tt>linkonce</tt> linkage does not actually allow the optimizer to
+ inline the body of this function into callers because it doesn't know if
+ this definition of the function is the definitive definition within the
+ program or whether it will be overridden by a stronger definition.
+ To enable inlining and other optimizations, use "<tt>linkonce_odr</tt>"
+ linkage.</dd>
<dt><tt><b><a name="linkage_weak">weak</a></b></tt></dt>
<dd>"<tt>weak</tt>" linkage has the same merging semantics as
(e.g. by passing things in registers). This calling convention allows the
target to use whatever tricks it wants to produce fast code for the
target, without having to conform to an externally specified ABI
- (Application Binary Interface). Implementations of this convention should
- allow arbitrary <a href="CodeGenerator.html#tailcallopt">tail call
- optimization</a> to be supported. This calling convention does not
+ (Application Binary Interface).
+ <a href="CodeGenerator.html#tailcallopt">Tail calls can only be optimized
+ when this convention is used.</a> This calling convention does not
support varargs and requires the prototype of all callees to exactly match
the prototype of the function definition.</dd>
</div>
+<!-- ======================================================================= -->
+<div class="doc_subsection">
+ <a name="namedmetadatastructure">Named Metadata</a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+
+<p>Named metadata is a collection of metadata. <a href="#metadata">Metadata
+ nodes</a> (but not metadata strings) and null are the only valid operands for
+ a named metadata.</p>
+
+<h5>Syntax:</h5>
+<div class="doc_code">
+<pre>
+!1 = metadata !{metadata !"one"}
+!name = !{null, !1}
+</pre>
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
<div class="doc_subsection"><a name="paramattrs">Parameter Attributes</a></div>
function into callers whenever possible, ignoring any active inlining size
threshold for this caller.</dd>
- <dt><tt><b>inlinehint</b></tt></dt>
- <dd>This attribute indicates that the source code contained a hint that inlining
- this function is desirable (such as the "inline" keyword in C/C++). It
- is just a hint; it imposes no requirements on the inliner.</dd>
-
<dt><tt><b>noinline</b></tt></dt>
<dd>This attribute indicates that the inliner should never inline this
function in any situation. This attribute may not be used together with
underlying processor. The elements of a structure may be any type that has a
size.</p>
-<p>Structures are accessed using '<tt><a href="#i_load">load</a></tt> and
- '<tt><a href="#i_store">store</a></tt>' by getting a pointer to a field with
- the '<tt><a href="#i_getelementptr">getelementptr</a></tt>' instruction.</p>
-
+<p>Structures in memory are accessed using '<tt><a href="#i_load">load</a></tt>'
+ and '<tt><a href="#i_store">store</a></tt>' by getting a pointer to a field
+ with the '<tt><a href="#i_getelementptr">getelementptr</a></tt>' instruction.
+ Structures in registers are accessed using the
+ '<tt><a href="#i_extractvalue">extractvalue</a></tt>' and
+ '<tt><a href="#i_insertvalue">insertvalue</a></tt>' instructions.</p>
<h5>Syntax:</h5>
<pre>
{ <type list> }
</div>
-<!-- ======================================================================= -->
-<div class="doc_subsection"><a name="metadata">Embedded Metadata</a>
-</div>
-
-<div class="doc_text">
-
-<p>Embedded metadata provides a way to attach arbitrary data to the instruction
- stream without affecting the behaviour of the program. There are two
- metadata primitives, strings and nodes. All metadata has the
- <tt>metadata</tt> type and is identified in syntax by a preceding exclamation
- point ('<tt>!</tt>').</p>
-
-<p>A metadata string is a string surrounded by double quotes. It can contain
- any character by escaping non-printable characters with "\xx" where "xx" is
- the two digit hex code. For example: "<tt>!"test\00"</tt>".</p>
-
-<p>Metadata nodes are represented with notation similar to structure constants
- (a comma separated list of elements, surrounded by braces and preceded by an
- exclamation point). For example: "<tt>!{ metadata !"test\00", i32
- 10}</tt>".</p>
-
-<p>A metadata node will attempt to track changes to the values it holds. In the
- event that a value is deleted, it will be replaced with a typeless
- "<tt>null</tt>", such as "<tt>metadata !{null, i32 10}</tt>".</p>
-
-<p>A named metadata is a collection of metadata nodes. For example: "<tt>!foo =
- metadata !{!4, !3}</tt>".
-
-<p>Optimizations may rely on metadata to provide additional information about
- the program that isn't available in the instructions, or that isn't easily
- computable. Similarly, the code generator may expect a certain metadata
- format to be used to express debugging information.</p>
-
-</div>
-
<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
<div class="doc_section"> <a name="othervalues">Other Values</a> </div>
<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
</div>
+<!-- ======================================================================= -->
+<div class="doc_subsection"><a name="metadata">Metadata Nodes and Metadata
+ Strings</a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+
+<p>LLVM IR allows metadata to be attached to instructions in the program that
+ can convey extra information about the code to the optimizers and code
+ generator. One example application of metadata is source-level debug
+ information. There are two metadata primitives: strings and nodes. All
+ metadata has the <tt>metadata</tt> type and is identified in syntax by a
+ preceding exclamation point ('<tt>!</tt>').</p>
+
+<p>A metadata string is a string surrounded by double quotes. It can contain
+ any character by escaping non-printable characters with "\xx" where "xx" is
+ the two digit hex code. For example: "<tt>!"test\00"</tt>".</p>
+
+<p>Metadata nodes are represented with notation similar to structure constants
+ (a comma separated list of elements, surrounded by braces and preceded by an
+ exclamation point). For example: "<tt>!{ metadata !"test\00", i32
+ 10}</tt>". Metadata nodes can have any values as their operand.</p>
+
+<p>A <a href="#namedmetadatastructure">named metadata</a> is a collection of
+ metadata nodes, which can be looked up in the module symbol table. For
+ example: "<tt>!foo = metadata !{!4, !3}</tt>".
+
+</div>
+
<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
<div class="doc_section">
block to the "normal" label. If the callee unwinds then no return value is
available.</p>
+<p>Note that the code generator does not yet completely support unwind, and
+that the invoke/unwind semantics are likely to change in future versions.</p>
+
<h5>Example:</h5>
<pre>
%retval = invoke i32 @Test(i32 15) to label %Continue
specified by the <tt>invoke</tt> instruction. If there is no <tt>invoke</tt>
instruction in the dynamic call chain, undefined behavior results.</p>
+<p>Note that the code generator does not yet completely support unwind, and
+that the invoke/unwind semantics are likely to change in future versions.</p>
+
</div>
<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
<h5>Syntax:</h5>
<pre>
- <result> = insertvalue <aggregate type> <val>, <ty> <val>, <idx> <i>; yields <n x <ty>></i>
+ <result> = insertvalue <aggregate type> <val>, <ty> <elt>, <idx> <i>; yields <aggregate type></i>
</pre>
<h5>Overview:</h5>
<h5>Example:</h5>
<pre>
- <result> = insertvalue {i32, float} %agg, i32 1, 0 <i>; yields {i32, float}</i>
+ %agg1 = insertvalue {i32, float} undef, i32 1, 0 <i>; yields {i32 1, float undef}</i>
+ %agg2 = insertvalue {i32, float} %agg1, float %val, 1 <i>; yields {i32 1, float %val}</i>
</pre>
</div>
<p>This instruction requires several arguments:</p>
<ol>
- <li>The optional "tail" marker indicates whether the callee function accesses
- any allocas or varargs in the caller. If the "tail" marker is present,
- the function call is eligible for tail call optimization. Note that calls
- may be marked "tail" even if they do not occur before
- a <a href="#i_ret"><tt>ret</tt></a> instruction.</li>
+ <li>The optional "tail" marker indicates that the callee function does not
+ access any allocas or varargs in the caller. Note that calls may be
+ marked "tail" even if they do not occur before
+ a <a href="#i_ret"><tt>ret</tt></a> instruction. If the "tail" marker is
+ present, the function call is eligible for tail call optimization,
+ but <a href="CodeGenerator.html#tailcallopt">might not in fact be
+ optimized into a jump</a>. As of this writing, the extra requirements for
+ a call to actually be optimized are:
+ <ul>
+ <li>Caller and callee both have the calling
+ convention <tt>fastcc</tt>.</li>
+ <li>The call is in tail position (ret immediately follows call and ret
+ uses value of call or is void).</li>
+ <li>Option <tt>-tailcallopt</tt> is enabled,
+ or <code>llvm::PerformTailCallOpt</code> is <code>true</code>.</li>
+ <li><a href="CodeGenerator.html#tailcallopt">Platform specific
+ constraints are met.</a></li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
<li>The optional "cconv" marker indicates which <a href="#callingconv">calling
convention</a> the call should use. If none is specified, the call
- defaults to using C calling conventions.</li>
+ defaults to using C calling conventions. The calling convention of the
+ call must match the calling convention of the target function, or else the
+ behavior is undefined.</li>
<li>The optional <a href="#paramattrs">Parameter Attributes</a> list for
return values. Only '<tt>zeroext</tt>', '<tt>signext</tt>', and
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