"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html>
<head>
+ <meta http-equiv="Content-type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8">
<title>LLVM Programmer's Manual</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="llvm.css" type="text/css">
</head>
<ul>
<li><a href="#isa">The <tt>isa<></tt>, <tt>cast<></tt>
and <tt>dyn_cast<></tt> templates</a> </li>
+ <li><a href="#string_apis">Passing strings (the <tt>StringRef</tt>
+and <tt>Twine</tt> classes)</a>
+ <ul>
+ <li><a href="#StringRef">The <tt>StringRef</tt> class</a> </li>
+ <li><a href="#Twine">The <tt>Twine</tt> class</a> </li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
<li><a href="#DEBUG">The <tt>DEBUG()</tt> macro and <tt>-debug</tt>
option</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#dss_vector"><vector></a></li>
<li><a href="#dss_deque"><deque></a></li>
<li><a href="#dss_list"><list></a></li>
- <li><a href="#dss_ilist">llvm/ADT/ilist</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#dss_ilist">llvm/ADT/ilist.h</a></li>
<li><a href="#dss_other">Other Sequential Container Options</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="#ds_set">Set-Like Containers (std::set, SmallSet, SetVector, etc)</a>
<li><a href="#dss_stringmap">"llvm/ADT/StringMap.h"</a></li>
<li><a href="#dss_indexedmap">"llvm/ADT/IndexedMap.h"</a></li>
<li><a href="#dss_densemap">"llvm/ADT/DenseMap.h"</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#dss_valuemap">"llvm/ADT/ValueMap.h"</a></li>
<li><a href="#dss_map"><map></a></li>
<li><a href="#dss_othermap">Other Map-Like Container Options</a></li>
</ul></li>
+ <li><a href="#ds_string">String-like containers</a>
+ <!--<ul>
+ todo
+ </ul>--></li>
<li><a href="#ds_bit">BitVector-like containers</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#dss_bitvector">A dense bitvector</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#dss_smallbitvector">A "small" dense bitvector</a></li>
<li><a href="#dss_sparsebitvector">A sparse bitvector</a></li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<li><a href="#schanges_deletingGV">Deleting <tt>GlobalVariable</tt>s</a> </li>
</ul>
</li>
+ <li><a href="#create_types">How to Create Types</a></li>
<!--
<li>Working with the Control Flow Graph
<ul>
</ul>
</li>
+ <li><a href="#threading">Threads and LLVM</a>
+ <ul>
+ <li><a href="#startmultithreaded">Entering and Exiting Multithreaded Mode
+ </a></li>
+ <li><a href="#shutdown">Ending execution with <tt>llvm_shutdown()</tt></a></li>
+ <li><a href="#managedstatic">Lazy initialization with <tt>ManagedStatic</tt></a></li>
+ <li><a href="#llvmcontext">Achieving Isolation with <tt>LLVMContext</tt></a></li>
+ <li><a href="#jitthreading">Threads and the JIT</a></li>
+ </ul>
+ </li>
+
<li><a href="#advanced">Advanced Topics</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="#TypeResolve">LLVM Type Resolution</a>
<p>Written by <a href="mailto:sabre@nondot.org">Chris Lattner</a>,
<a href="mailto:dhurjati@cs.uiuc.edu">Dinakar Dhurjati</a>,
<a href="mailto:ggreif@gmail.com">Gabor Greif</a>,
- <a href="mailto:jstanley@cs.uiuc.edu">Joel Stanley</a> and
- <a href="mailto:rspencer@x10sys.com">Reid Spencer</a></p>
+ <a href="mailto:jstanley@cs.uiuc.edu">Joel Stanley</a>,
+ <a href="mailto:rspencer@x10sys.com">Reid Spencer</a> and
+ <a href="mailto:owen@apple.com">Owen Anderson</a></p>
</div>
<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
standard C++ library.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.tempest-sw.com/cpp/">C++ In a Nutshell</a> - This is an
-O'Reilly book in the making. It has a decent
-Standard Library
-Reference that rivals Dinkumware's, and is unfortunately no longer free since the book has been
-published.</li>
+O'Reilly book in the making. It has a decent Standard Library
+Reference that rivals Dinkumware's, and is unfortunately no longer free since the
+book has been published.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/">C++ Frequently Asked
Questions</a></li>
</div>
+
+<!-- ======================================================================= -->
+<div class="doc_subsection">
+ <a name="string_apis">Passing strings (the <tt>StringRef</tt>
+and <tt>Twine</tt> classes)</a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+
+<p>Although LLVM generally does not do much string manipulation, we do have
+several important APIs which take strings. Two important examples are the
+Value class -- which has names for instructions, functions, etc. -- and the
+StringMap class which is used extensively in LLVM and Clang.</p>
+
+<p>These are generic classes, and they need to be able to accept strings which
+may have embedded null characters. Therefore, they cannot simply take
+a <tt>const char *</tt>, and taking a <tt>const std::string&</tt> requires
+clients to perform a heap allocation which is usually unnecessary. Instead,
+many LLVM APIs use a <tt>StringRef</tt> or a <tt>const Twine&</tt> for
+passing strings efficiently.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
+<div class="doc_subsubsection">
+ <a name="StringRef">The <tt>StringRef</tt> class</a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+
+<p>The <tt>StringRef</tt> data type represents a reference to a constant string
+(a character array and a length) and supports the common operations available
+on <tt>std:string</tt>, but does not require heap allocation.</p>
+
+<p>It can be implicitly constructed using a C style null-terminated string,
+an <tt>std::string</tt>, or explicitly with a character pointer and length.
+For example, the <tt>StringRef</tt> find function is declared as:</p>
+
+<pre class="doc_code">
+ iterator find(StringRef Key);
+</pre>
+
+<p>and clients can call it using any one of:</p>
+
+<pre class="doc_code">
+ Map.find("foo"); <i>// Lookup "foo"</i>
+ Map.find(std::string("bar")); <i>// Lookup "bar"</i>
+ Map.find(StringRef("\0baz", 4)); <i>// Lookup "\0baz"</i>
+</pre>
+
+<p>Similarly, APIs which need to return a string may return a <tt>StringRef</tt>
+instance, which can be used directly or converted to an <tt>std::string</tt>
+using the <tt>str</tt> member function. See
+"<tt><a href="/doxygen/classllvm_1_1StringRef_8h-source.html">llvm/ADT/StringRef.h</a></tt>"
+for more information.</p>
+
+<p>You should rarely use the <tt>StringRef</tt> class directly, because it contains
+pointers to external memory it is not generally safe to store an instance of the
+class (unless you know that the external storage will not be freed). StringRef is
+small and pervasive enough in LLVM that it should always be passed by value.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
+<div class="doc_subsubsection">
+ <a name="Twine">The <tt>Twine</tt> class</a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+
+<p>The <tt>Twine</tt> class is an efficient way for APIs to accept concatenated
+strings. For example, a common LLVM paradigm is to name one instruction based on
+the name of another instruction with a suffix, for example:</p>
+
+<div class="doc_code">
+<pre>
+ New = CmpInst::Create(<i>...</i>, SO->getName() + ".cmp");
+</pre>
+</div>
+
+<p>The <tt>Twine</tt> class is effectively a
+lightweight <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rope_(computer_science)">rope</a>
+which points to temporary (stack allocated) objects. Twines can be implicitly
+constructed as the result of the plus operator applied to strings (i.e., a C
+strings, an <tt>std::string</tt>, or a <tt>StringRef</tt>). The twine delays the
+actual concatenation of strings until it is actually required, at which point
+it can be efficiently rendered directly into a character array. This avoids
+unnecessary heap allocation involved in constructing the temporary results of
+string concatenation. See
+"<tt><a href="/doxygen/classllvm_1_1Twine_8h-source.html">llvm/ADT/Twine.h</a></tt>"
+for more information.</p>
+
+<p>As with a <tt>StringRef</tt>, <tt>Twine</tt> objects point to external memory
+and should almost never be stored or mentioned directly. They are intended
+solely for use when defining a function which should be able to efficiently
+accept concatenated strings.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
<div class="doc_subsection">
<a name="DEBUG">The <tt>DEBUG()</tt> macro and <tt>-debug</tt> option</a>
<div class="doc_code">
<pre>
-DOUT << "I am here!\n";
+DEBUG(errs() << "I am here!\n");
</pre>
</div>
<div class="doc_code">
<pre>
-DOUT << "No debug type\n";
#undef DEBUG_TYPE
+DEBUG(errs() << "No debug type\n");
#define DEBUG_TYPE "foo"
-DOUT << "'foo' debug type\n";
+DEBUG(errs() << "'foo' debug type\n");
#undef DEBUG_TYPE
#define DEBUG_TYPE "bar"
-DOUT << "'bar' debug type\n";
+DEBUG(errs() << "'bar' debug type\n"));
#undef DEBUG_TYPE
#define DEBUG_TYPE ""
-DOUT << "No debug type (2)\n";
+DEBUG(errs() << "No debug type (2)\n");
</pre>
</div>
for instruction scheduling to be enabled with <tt>-debug-type=InstrSched</tt>,
even if the source lives in multiple files.</p>
+<p>The <tt>DEBUG_WITH_TYPE</tt> macro is also available for situations where you
+would like to set <tt>DEBUG_TYPE</tt>, but only for one specific <tt>DEBUG</tt>
+statement. It takes an additional first parameter, which is the type to use. For
+example, the preceding example could be written as:</p>
+
+
+<div class="doc_code">
+<pre>
+DEBUG_WITH_TYPE("", errs() << "No debug type\n");
+DEBUG_WITH_TYPE("foo", errs() << "'foo' debug type\n");
+DEBUG_WITH_TYPE("bar", errs() << "'bar' debug type\n"));
+DEBUG_WITH_TYPE("", errs() << "No debug type (2)\n");
+</pre>
+</div>
+
</div>
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
iteration, but do not support efficient look-up based on a key.
</li>
+<li>a <a href="#ds_string">string</a> container is a specialized sequential
+ container or reference structure that is used for character or byte
+ arrays.</li>
+
<li>a <a href="#ds_bit">bit</a> container provides an efficient way to store and
perform set operations on sets of numeric id's, while automatically
eliminating duplicates. Bit containers require a maximum of 1 bit for each
<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
<div class="doc_subsubsection">
- <a name="dss_ilist">llvm/ADT/ilist</a>
+ <a name="dss_ilist">llvm/ADT/ilist.h</a>
</div>
<div class="doc_text">
intrusive, because it requires the element to store and provide access to the
prev/next pointers for the list.</p>
-<p>ilist has the same drawbacks as std::list, and additionally requires an
-ilist_traits implementation for the element type, but it provides some novel
-characteristics. In particular, it can efficiently store polymorphic objects,
-the traits class is informed when an element is inserted or removed from the
-list, and ilists are guaranteed to support a constant-time splice operation.
-</p>
+<p><tt>ilist</tt> has the same drawbacks as <tt>std::list</tt>, and additionally
+requires an <tt>ilist_traits</tt> implementation for the element type, but it
+provides some novel characteristics. In particular, it can efficiently store
+polymorphic objects, the traits class is informed when an element is inserted or
+removed from the list, and <tt>ilist</tt>s are guaranteed to support a
+constant-time splice operation.</p>
+
+<p>These properties are exactly what we want for things like
+<tt>Instruction</tt>s and basic blocks, which is why these are implemented with
+<tt>ilist</tt>s.</p>
-<p>These properties are exactly what we want for things like Instructions and
-basic blocks, which is why these are implemented with ilists.</p>
+Related classes of interest are explained in the following subsections:
+ <ul>
+ <li><a href="#dss_ilist_traits">ilist_traits</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#dss_iplist">iplist</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#dss_ilist_node">llvm/ADT/ilist_node.h</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#dss_ilist_sentinel">Sentinels</a></li>
+ </ul>
+</div>
+
+<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
+<div class="doc_subsubsection">
+ <a name="dss_ilist_traits">ilist_traits</a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+<p><tt>ilist_traits<T></tt> is <tt>ilist<T></tt>'s customization
+mechanism. <tt>iplist<T></tt> (and consequently <tt>ilist<T></tt>)
+publicly derive from this traits class.</p>
+</div>
+
+<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
+<div class="doc_subsubsection">
+ <a name="dss_iplist">iplist</a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+<p><tt>iplist<T></tt> is <tt>ilist<T></tt>'s base and as such
+supports a slightly narrower interface. Notably, inserters from
+<tt>T&</tt> are absent.</p>
+
+<p><tt>ilist_traits<T></tt> is a public base of this class and can be
+used for a wide variety of customizations.</p>
+</div>
+
+<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
+<div class="doc_subsubsection">
+ <a name="dss_ilist_node">llvm/ADT/ilist_node.h</a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+<p><tt>ilist_node<T></tt> implements a the forward and backward links
+that are expected by the <tt>ilist<T></tt> (and analogous containers)
+in the default manner.</p>
+
+<p><tt>ilist_node<T></tt>s are meant to be embedded in the node type
+<tt>T</tt>, usually <tt>T</tt> publicly derives from
+<tt>ilist_node<T></tt>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
+<div class="doc_subsubsection">
+ <a name="dss_ilist_sentinel">Sentinels</a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+<p><tt>ilist</tt>s have another specialty that must be considered. To be a good
+citizen in the C++ ecosystem, it needs to support the standard container
+operations, such as <tt>begin</tt> and <tt>end</tt> iterators, etc. Also, the
+<tt>operator--</tt> must work correctly on the <tt>end</tt> iterator in the
+case of non-empty <tt>ilist</tt>s.</p>
+
+<p>The only sensible solution to this problem is to allocate a so-called
+<i>sentinel</i> along with the intrusive list, which serves as the <tt>end</tt>
+iterator, providing the back-link to the last element. However conforming to the
+C++ convention it is illegal to <tt>operator++</tt> beyond the sentinel and it
+also must not be dereferenced.</p>
+
+<p>These constraints allow for some implementation freedom to the <tt>ilist</tt>
+how to allocate and store the sentinel. The corresponding policy is dictated
+by <tt>ilist_traits<T></tt>. By default a <tt>T</tt> gets heap-allocated
+whenever the need for a sentinel arises.</p>
+
+<p>While the default policy is sufficient in most cases, it may break down when
+<tt>T</tt> does not provide a default constructor. Also, in the case of many
+instances of <tt>ilist</tt>s, the memory overhead of the associated sentinels
+is wasted. To alleviate the situation with numerous and voluminous
+<tt>T</tt>-sentinels, sometimes a trick is employed, leading to <i>ghostly
+sentinels</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Ghostly sentinels are obtained by specially-crafted <tt>ilist_traits<T></tt>
+which superpose the sentinel with the <tt>ilist</tt> instance in memory. Pointer
+arithmetic is used to obtain the sentinel, which is relative to the
+<tt>ilist</tt>'s <tt>this</tt> pointer. The <tt>ilist</tt> is augmented by an
+extra pointer, which serves as the back-link of the sentinel. This is the only
+field in the ghostly sentinel which can be legally accessed.</p>
</div>
<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
<div class="doc_text">
-<p>SmallPtrSet has all the advantages of SmallSet (and a SmallSet of pointers is
-transparently implemented with a SmallPtrSet), but also supports iterators. If
+<p>SmallPtrSet has all the advantages of <tt>SmallSet</tt> (and a <tt>SmallSet</tt> of pointers is
+transparently implemented with a <tt>SmallPtrSet</tt>), but also supports iterators. If
more than 'N' insertions are performed, a single quadratically
probed hash table is allocated and grows as needed, providing extremely
efficient access (constant time insertion/deleting/queries with low constant
factors) and is very stingy with malloc traffic.</p>
-<p>Note that, unlike std::set, the iterators of SmallPtrSet are invalidated
+<p>Note that, unlike <tt>std::set</tt>, the iterators of <tt>SmallPtrSet</tt> are invalidated
whenever an insertion occurs. Also, the values visited by the iterators are not
visited in sorted order.</p>
<p>
The STL provides several other options, such as std::multiset and the various
-"hash_set" like containers (whether from C++ TR1 or from the SGI library).</p>
+"hash_set" like containers (whether from C++ TR1 or from the SGI library). We
+never use hash_set and unordered_set because they are generally very expensive
+(each insertion requires a malloc) and very non-portable.
+</p>
<p>std::multiset is useful if you're not interested in elimination of
duplicates, but has all the drawbacks of std::set. A sorted vector (where you
don't delete duplicate entries) or some other approach is almost always
better.</p>
-<p>The various hash_set implementations (exposed portably by
-"llvm/ADT/hash_set") is a simple chained hashtable. This algorithm is as malloc
-intensive as std::set (performing an allocation for each element inserted,
-thus having really high constant factors) but (usually) provides O(1)
-insertion/deletion of elements. This can be useful if your elements are large
-(thus making the constant-factor cost relatively low) or if comparisons are
-expensive. Element iteration does not visit elements in a useful order.</p>
-
</div>
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
</div>
+<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
+<div class="doc_subsubsection">
+ <a name="dss_valuemap">"llvm/ADT/ValueMap.h"</a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+
+<p>
+ValueMap is a wrapper around a <a href="#dss_densemap">DenseMap</a> mapping
+Value*s (or subclasses) to another type. When a Value is deleted or RAUW'ed,
+ValueMap will update itself so the new version of the key is mapped to the same
+value, just as if the key were a WeakVH. You can configure exactly how this
+happens, and what else happens on these two events, by passing
+a <code>Config</code> parameter to the ValueMap template.</p>
+
+</div>
+
<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
<div class="doc_subsubsection">
<a name="dss_map"><map></a>
<p>
The STL provides several other options, such as std::multimap and the various
-"hash_map" like containers (whether from C++ TR1 or from the SGI library).</p>
+"hash_map" like containers (whether from C++ TR1 or from the SGI library). We
+never use hash_set and unordered_set because they are generally very expensive
+(each insertion requires a malloc) and very non-portable.</p>
<p>std::multimap is useful if you want to map a key to multiple values, but has
all the drawbacks of std::map. A sorted vector or some other approach is almost
always better.</p>
-<p>The various hash_map implementations (exposed portably by
-"llvm/ADT/hash_map") are simple chained hash tables. This algorithm is as
-malloc intensive as std::map (performing an allocation for each element
-inserted, thus having really high constant factors) but (usually) provides O(1)
-insertion/deletion of elements. This can be useful if your elements are large
-(thus making the constant-factor cost relatively low) or if comparisons are
-expensive. Element iteration does not visit elements in a useful order.</p>
+</div>
+
+<!-- ======================================================================= -->
+<div class="doc_subsection">
+ <a name="ds_string">String-like containers</a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+
+<p>
+TODO: const char* vs stringref vs smallstring vs std::string. Describe twine,
+xref to #string_apis.
+</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="doc_text">
-<p> The BitVector container provides a fixed size set of bits for manipulation.
+<p> The BitVector container provides a dynamic size set of bits for manipulation.
It supports individual bit setting/testing, as well as set operations. The set
operations take time O(size of bitvector), but operations are performed one word
at a time, instead of one bit at a time. This makes the BitVector very fast for
</p>
</div>
+<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
+<div class="doc_subsubsection">
+ <a name="dss_smallbitvector">SmallBitVector</a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+<p> The SmallBitVector container provides the same interface as BitVector, but
+it is optimized for the case where only a small number of bits, less than
+25 or so, are needed. It also transparently supports larger bit counts, but
+slightly less efficiently than a plain BitVector, so SmallBitVector should
+only be used when larger counts are rare.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At this time, SmallBitVector does not support set operations (and, or, xor),
+and its operator[] does not provide an assignable lvalue.
+</p>
+</div>
+
<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
<div class="doc_subsubsection">
<a name="dss_sparsebitvector">SparseBitVector</a>
for (Function::iterator i = func->begin(), e = func->end(); i != e; ++i)
// <i>Print out the name of the basic block if it has one, and then the</i>
// <i>number of instructions that it contains</i>
- llvm::cerr << "Basic block (name=" << i->getName() << ") has "
+ errs() << "Basic block (name=" << i->getName() << ") has "
<< i->size() << " instructions.\n";
</pre>
</div>
for (BasicBlock::iterator i = blk->begin(), e = blk->end(); i != e; ++i)
// <i>The next statement works since operator<<(ostream&,...)</i>
// <i>is overloaded for Instruction&</i>
- llvm::cerr << *i << "\n";
+ errs() << *i << "\n";
</pre>
</div>
<p>However, this isn't really the best way to print out the contents of a
<tt>BasicBlock</tt>! Since the ostream operators are overloaded for virtually
anything you'll care about, you could have just invoked the print routine on the
-basic block itself: <tt>llvm::cerr << *blk << "\n";</tt>.</p>
+basic block itself: <tt>errs() << *blk << "\n";</tt>.</p>
</div>
// <i>F is a pointer to a Function instance</i>
for (inst_iterator I = inst_begin(F), E = inst_end(F); I != E; ++I)
- llvm::cerr << *I << "\n";
+ errs() << *I << "\n";
</pre>
</div>
void printNextInstruction(Instruction* inst) {
BasicBlock::iterator it(inst);
++it; // <i>After this line, it refers to the instruction after *inst</i>
- if (it != inst->getParent()->end()) llvm::cerr << *it << "\n";
+ if (it != inst->getParent()->end()) errs() << *it << "\n";
}
</pre>
</div>
+<p>Unfortunately, these implicit conversions come at a cost; they prevent
+these iterators from conforming to standard iterator conventions, and thus
+from being usable with standard algorithms and containers. For example, they
+prevent the following code, where <tt>B</tt> is a <tt>BasicBlock</tt>,
+from compiling:</p>
+
+<div class="doc_code">
+<pre>
+ llvm::SmallVector<llvm::Instruction *, 16>(B->begin(), B->end());
+</pre>
+</div>
+
+<p>Because of this, these implicit conversions may be removed some day,
+and <tt>operator*</tt> changed to return a pointer instead of a reference.</p>
+
</div>
<!--_______________________________________________________________________-->
virtual runOnFunction(Function& F) {
for (Function::iterator b = F.begin(), be = F.end(); b != be; ++b) {
- for (BasicBlock::iterator i = b->begin(); ie = b->end(); i != ie; ++i) {
+ for (BasicBlock::iterator i = b->begin(), ie = b->end(); i != ie; ++i) {
if (<a href="#CallInst">CallInst</a>* callInst = <a href="#isa">dyn_cast</a><<a
href="#CallInst">CallInst</a>>(&*i)) {
// <i>We know we've encountered a call instruction, so we</i>
for (Value::use_iterator i = F->use_begin(), e = F->use_end(); i != e; ++i)
if (Instruction *Inst = dyn_cast<Instruction>(*i)) {
- llvm::cerr << "F is used in instruction:\n";
- llvm::cerr << *Inst << "\n";
+ errs() << "F is used in instruction:\n";
+ errs() << *Inst << "\n";
}
</pre>
</div>
-<p>Alternately, it's common to have an instance of the <a
+<p>Note that dereferencing a <tt>Value::use_iterator</tt> is not a very cheap
+operation. Instead of performing <tt>*i</tt> above several times, consider
+doing it only once in the loop body and reusing its result.</p>
+
+<p>Alternatively, it's common to have an instance of the <a
href="/doxygen/classllvm_1_1User.html">User Class</a> and need to know what
<tt>Value</tt>s are used by it. The list of all <tt>Value</tt>s used by a
<tt>User</tt> is known as a <i>use-def</i> chain. Instances of class
</pre>
</div>
-<!--
- def-use chains ("finding all users of"): Value::use_begin/use_end
- use-def chains ("finding all values used"): User::op_begin/op_end [op=operand]
--->
+<p>Declaring objects as <tt>const</tt> is an important tool of enforcing
+mutation free algorithms (such as analyses, etc.). For this purpose above
+iterators come in constant flavors as <tt>Value::const_use_iterator</tt>
+and <tt>Value::const_op_iterator</tt>. They automatically arise when
+calling <tt>use/op_begin()</tt> on <tt>const Value*</tt>s or
+<tt>const User*</tt>s respectively. Upon dereferencing, they return
+<tt>const Use*</tt>s. Otherwise the above patterns remain unchanged.</p>
</div>
</div>
+<!-- ======================================================================= -->
+<div class="doc_subsection">
+ <a name="create_types">How to Create Types</a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+
+<p>In generating IR, you may need some complex types. If you know these types
+statically, you can use <tt>TypeBuilder<...>::get()</tt>, defined
+in <tt>llvm/Support/TypeBuilder.h</tt>, to retrieve them. <tt>TypeBuilder</tt>
+has two forms depending on whether you're building types for cross-compilation
+or native library use. <tt>TypeBuilder<T, true></tt> requires
+that <tt>T</tt> be independent of the host environment, meaning that it's built
+out of types from
+the <a href="/doxygen/namespacellvm_1_1types.html"><tt>llvm::types</tt></a>
+namespace and pointers, functions, arrays, etc. built of
+those. <tt>TypeBuilder<T, false></tt> additionally allows native C types
+whose size may depend on the host compiler. For example,</p>
+
+<div class="doc_code">
+<pre>
+FunctionType *ft = TypeBuilder<types::i<8>(types::i<32>*), true>::get();
+</pre>
+</div>
+
+<p>is easier to read and write than the equivalent</p>
+
+<div class="doc_code">
+<pre>
+std::vector<const Type*> params;
+params.push_back(PointerType::getUnqual(Type::Int32Ty));
+FunctionType *ft = FunctionType::get(Type::Int8Ty, params, false);
+</pre>
+</div>
+
+<p>See the <a href="/doxygen/TypeBuilder_8h-source.html#l00001">class
+comment</a> for more details.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
+<div class="doc_section">
+ <a name="threading">Threads and LLVM</a>
+</div>
+<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+<p>
+This section describes the interaction of the LLVM APIs with multithreading,
+both on the part of client applications, and in the JIT, in the hosted
+application.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Note that LLVM's support for multithreading is still relatively young. Up
+through version 2.5, the execution of threaded hosted applications was
+supported, but not threaded client access to the APIs. While this use case is
+now supported, clients <em>must</em> adhere to the guidelines specified below to
+ensure proper operation in multithreaded mode.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Note that, on Unix-like platforms, LLVM requires the presence of GCC's atomic
+intrinsics in order to support threaded operation. If you need a
+multhreading-capable LLVM on a platform without a suitably modern system
+compiler, consider compiling LLVM and LLVM-GCC in single-threaded mode, and
+using the resultant compiler to build a copy of LLVM with multithreading
+support.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<!-- ======================================================================= -->
+<div class="doc_subsection">
+ <a name="startmultithreaded">Entering and Exiting Multithreaded Mode</a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+
+<p>
+In order to properly protect its internal data structures while avoiding
+excessive locking overhead in the single-threaded case, the LLVM must intialize
+certain data structures necessary to provide guards around its internals. To do
+so, the client program must invoke <tt>llvm_start_multithreaded()</tt> before
+making any concurrent LLVM API calls. To subsequently tear down these
+structures, use the <tt>llvm_stop_multithreaded()</tt> call. You can also use
+the <tt>llvm_is_multithreaded()</tt> call to check the status of multithreaded
+mode.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Note that both of these calls must be made <em>in isolation</em>. That is to
+say that no other LLVM API calls may be executing at any time during the
+execution of <tt>llvm_start_multithreaded()</tt> or <tt>llvm_stop_multithreaded
+</tt>. It's is the client's responsibility to enforce this isolation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The return value of <tt>llvm_start_multithreaded()</tt> indicates the success or
+failure of the initialization. Failure typically indicates that your copy of
+LLVM was built without multithreading support, typically because GCC atomic
+intrinsics were not found in your system compiler. In this case, the LLVM API
+will not be safe for concurrent calls. However, it <em>will</em> be safe for
+hosting threaded applications in the JIT, though <a href="#jitthreading">care
+must be taken</a> to ensure that side exits and the like do not accidentally
+result in concurrent LLVM API calls.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<!-- ======================================================================= -->
+<div class="doc_subsection">
+ <a name="shutdown">Ending Execution with <tt>llvm_shutdown()</tt></a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+<p>
+When you are done using the LLVM APIs, you should call <tt>llvm_shutdown()</tt>
+to deallocate memory used for internal structures. This will also invoke
+<tt>llvm_stop_multithreaded()</tt> if LLVM is operating in multithreaded mode.
+As such, <tt>llvm_shutdown()</tt> requires the same isolation guarantees as
+<tt>llvm_stop_multithreaded()</tt>.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Note that, if you use scope-based shutdown, you can use the
+<tt>llvm_shutdown_obj</tt> class, which calls <tt>llvm_shutdown()</tt> in its
+destructor.
+</div>
+
+<!-- ======================================================================= -->
+<div class="doc_subsection">
+ <a name="managedstatic">Lazy Initialization with <tt>ManagedStatic</tt></a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+<p>
+<tt>ManagedStatic</tt> is a utility class in LLVM used to implement static
+initialization of static resources, such as the global type tables. Before the
+invocation of <tt>llvm_shutdown()</tt>, it implements a simple lazy
+initialization scheme. Once <tt>llvm_start_multithreaded()</tt> returns,
+however, it uses double-checked locking to implement thread-safe lazy
+initialization.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Note that, because no other threads are allowed to issue LLVM API calls before
+<tt>llvm_start_multithreaded()</tt> returns, it is possible to have
+<tt>ManagedStatic</tt>s of <tt>llvm::sys::Mutex</tt>s.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The <tt>llvm_acquire_global_lock()</tt> and <tt>llvm_release_global_lock</tt>
+APIs provide access to the global lock used to implement the double-checked
+locking for lazy initialization. These should only be used internally to LLVM,
+and only if you know what you're doing!
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<!-- ======================================================================= -->
+<div class="doc_subsection">
+ <a name="llvmcontext">Achieving Isolation with <tt>LLVMContext</tt></a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+<p>
+<tt>LLVMContext</tt> is an opaque class in the LLVM API which clients can use
+to operate multiple, isolated instances of LLVM concurrently within the same
+address space. For instance, in a hypothetical compile-server, the compilation
+of an individual translation unit is conceptually independent from all the
+others, and it would be desirable to be able to compile incoming translation
+units concurrently on independent server threads. Fortunately,
+<tt>LLVMContext</tt> exists to enable just this kind of scenario!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Conceptually, <tt>LLVMContext</tt> provides isolation. Every LLVM entity
+(<tt>Module</tt>s, <tt>Value</tt>s, <tt>Type</tt>s, <tt>Constant</tt>s, etc.)
+in LLVM's in-memory IR belongs to an <tt>LLVMContext</tt>. Entities in
+different contexts <em>cannot</em> interact with each other: <tt>Module</tt>s in
+different contexts cannot be linked together, <tt>Function</tt>s cannot be added
+to <tt>Module</tt>s in different contexts, etc. What this means is that is is
+safe to compile on multiple threads simultaneously, as long as no two threads
+operate on entities within the same context.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In practice, very few places in the API require the explicit specification of a
+<tt>LLVMContext</tt>, other than the <tt>Type</tt> creation/lookup APIs.
+Because every <tt>Type</tt> carries a reference to its owning context, most
+other entities can determine what context they belong to by looking at their
+own <tt>Type</tt>. If you are adding new entities to LLVM IR, please try to
+maintain this interface design.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For clients that do <em>not</em> require the benefits of isolation, LLVM
+provides a convenience API <tt>getGlobalContext()</tt>. This returns a global,
+lazily initialized <tt>LLVMContext</tt> that may be used in situations where
+isolation is not a concern.
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<!-- ======================================================================= -->
+<div class="doc_subsection">
+ <a name="jitthreading">Threads and the JIT</a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+<p>
+LLVM's "eager" JIT compiler is safe to use in threaded programs. Multiple
+threads can call <tt>ExecutionEngine::getPointerToFunction()</tt> or
+<tt>ExecutionEngine::runFunction()</tt> concurrently, and multiple threads can
+run code output by the JIT concurrently. The user must still ensure that only
+one thread accesses IR in a given <tt>LLVMContext</tt> while another thread
+might be modifying it. One way to do that is to always hold the JIT lock while
+accessing IR outside the JIT (the JIT <em>modifies</em> the IR by adding
+<tt>CallbackVH</tt>s). Another way is to only
+call <tt>getPointerToFunction()</tt> from the <tt>LLVMContext</tt>'s thread.
+</p>
+
+<p>When the JIT is configured to compile lazily (using
+<tt>ExecutionEngine::DisableLazyCompilation(false)</tt>), there is currently a
+<a href="http://llvm.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=5184">race condition</a> in
+updating call sites after a function is lazily-jitted. It's still possible to
+use the lazy JIT in a threaded program if you ensure that only one thread at a
+time can call any particular lazy stub and that the JIT lock guards any IR
+access, but we suggest using only the eager JIT in threaded programs.
+</p>
+</div>
+
<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
<div class="doc_section">
<a name="advanced">Advanced Topics</a>
<div class="doc_text">
<p>The <tt><a href="http://llvm.org/doxygen/classllvm_1_1User.html">
-User</a></tt> class provides a base for expressing the ownership of <tt>User</tt>
+User</a></tt> class provides a basis for expressing the ownership of <tt>User</tt>
towards other <tt><a href="http://llvm.org/doxygen/classllvm_1_1Value.html">
Value</a></tt>s. The <tt><a href="http://llvm.org/doxygen/classllvm_1_1Use.html">
Use</a></tt> helper class is employed to do the bookkeeping and to facilitate <i>O(1)</i>
<!-- ______________________________________________________________________ -->
<div class="doc_subsubsection">
- <a name="PATypeHolder">Interaction and relationship between <tt>User</tt> and <tt>Use</tt> objects</a>
+ <a name="Use2User">Interaction and relationship between <tt>User</tt> and <tt>Use</tt> objects</a>
</div>
<div class="doc_text">
<!-- ______________________________________________________________________ -->
<div class="doc_subsubsection">
- <a name="PATypeHolder">The waymarking algorithm</a>
+ <a name="Waymarking">The waymarking algorithm</a>
</div>
<div class="doc_text">
<!-- ______________________________________________________________________ -->
<div class="doc_subsubsection">
- <a name="PATypeHolder">Reference implementation</a>
+ <a name="ReferenceImpl">Reference implementation</a>
</div>
<div class="doc_text">
<!-- ______________________________________________________________________ -->
<div class="doc_subsubsection">
- <a name="PATypeHolder">Tagging considerations</a>
+ <a name="Tagging">Tagging considerations</a>
</div>
<p>
For layout b) instead of the <tt>User</tt> we find a pointer (<tt>User*</tt> with LSBit set).
Following this pointer brings us to the <tt>User</tt>. A portable trick ensures
that the first bytes of <tt>User</tt> (if interpreted as a pointer) never has
-the LSBit set.</p>
+the LSBit set. (Portability is relying on the fact that all known compilers place the
+<tt>vptr</tt> in the first word of the instances.)</p>
</div>
<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
<div class="doc_subsubsection">
- <a name="m_Value">Important Public Methods</a>
+ <a name="m_Type">Important Public Methods</a>
</div>
<div class="doc_text">
<ul>
- <li><tt>bool isInteger() const</tt>: Returns true for any integer type.</li>
+ <li><tt>bool isIntegerTy() const</tt>: Returns true for any integer type.</li>
- <li><tt>bool isFloatingPoint()</tt>: Return true if this is one of the two
+ <li><tt>bool isFloatingPointTy()</tt>: Return true if this is one of the five
floating point types.</li>
<li><tt>bool isAbstract()</tt>: Return true if the type is abstract (contains
<!-- _______________________________________________________________________ -->
<div class="doc_subsubsection">
- <a name="m_Value">Important Derived Types</a>
+ <a name="derivedtypes">Important Derived Types</a>
</div>
<div class="doc_text">
<dl>
<dt><tt>VectorType</tt></dt>
<dd>Subclass of SequentialType for vector types. A
vector type is similar to an ArrayType but is distinguished because it is
- a first class type wherease ArrayType is not. Vector types are used for
+ a first class type whereas ArrayType is not. Vector types are used for
vector operations and are usually small vectors of of an integer or floating
point type.</dd>
<dt><tt>StructType</tt></dt>
<dt><tt><a name="FunctionType">FunctionType</a></tt></dt>
<dd>Subclass of DerivedTypes for function types.
<ul>
- <li><tt>bool isVarArg() const</tt>: Returns true if its a vararg
+ <li><tt>bool isVarArg() const</tt>: Returns true if it's a vararg
function</li>
<li><tt> const Type * getReturnType() const</tt>: Returns the
return type of the function.</li>
<ul>
<li><tt>Value::use_iterator</tt> - Typedef for iterator over the
use-list<br>
- <tt>Value::use_const_iterator</tt> - Typedef for const_iterator over
+ <tt>Value::const_use_iterator</tt> - Typedef for const_iterator over
the use-list<br>
<tt>unsigned use_size()</tt> - Returns the number of users of the
value.<br>
<a href="#Value"><tt>Value</tt></a></p>
<p>The <tt>Function</tt> class represents a single procedure in LLVM. It is
-actually one of the more complex classes in the LLVM heirarchy because it must
+actually one of the more complex classes in the LLVM hierarchy because it must
keep track of a large amount of data. The <tt>Function</tt> class keeps track
of a list of <a href="#BasicBlock"><tt>BasicBlock</tt></a>s, a list of formal
<a href="#Argument"><tt>Argument</tt></a>s, and a
<p>The list of <a href="#BasicBlock"><tt>BasicBlock</tt></a>s is the most
commonly used part of <tt>Function</tt> objects. The list imposes an implicit
ordering of the blocks in the function, which indicate how the code will be
-layed out by the backend. Additionally, the first <a
+laid out by the backend. Additionally, the first <a
href="#BasicBlock"><tt>BasicBlock</tt></a> is the implicit entry node for the
<tt>Function</tt>. It is not legal in LLVM to explicitly branch to this initial
block. There are no implicit exit nodes, and in fact there may be multiple exit
will automatically be inserted into that module's list of
functions.</p></li>
- <li><tt>bool isExternal()</tt>
+ <li><tt>bool isDeclaration()</tt>
<p>Return whether or not the <tt>Function</tt> has a body defined. If the
function is "external", it does not have a body, and thus must be resolved
<a href="#User"><tt>User</tt></a>,
<a href="#Value"><tt>Value</tt></a></p>
-<p>Global variables are represented with the (suprise suprise)
+<p>Global variables are represented with the (surprise surprise)
<tt>GlobalVariable</tt> class. Like functions, <tt>GlobalVariable</tt>s are also
subclasses of <a href="#GlobalValue"><tt>GlobalValue</tt></a>, and as such are
always referenced by their address (global values must live in memory, so their
<p>Create a new global variable of the specified type. If
<tt>isConstant</tt> is true then the global variable will be marked as
unchanging for the program. The Linkage parameter specifies the type of
- linkage (internal, external, weak, linkonce, appending) for the variable. If
- the linkage is InternalLinkage, WeakLinkage, or LinkOnceLinkage, then
- the resultant global variable will have internal linkage. AppendingLinkage
- concatenates together all instances (in different translation units) of the
- variable into a single variable but is only applicable to arrays. See
+ linkage (internal, external, weak, linkonce, appending) for the variable.
+ If the linkage is InternalLinkage, WeakAnyLinkage, WeakODRLinkage,
+ LinkOnceAnyLinkage or LinkOnceODRLinkage, then the resultant
+ global variable will have internal linkage. AppendingLinkage concatenates
+ together all instances (in different translation units) of the variable
+ into a single variable but is only applicable to arrays. See
the <a href="LangRef.html#modulestructure">LLVM Language Reference</a> for
further details on linkage types. Optionally an initializer, a name, and the
module to put the variable into may be specified for the global variable as
<li><tt><a href="#Constant">Constant</a> *getInitializer()</tt>
- <p>Returns the intial value for a <tt>GlobalVariable</tt>. It is not legal
+ <p>Returns the initial value for a <tt>GlobalVariable</tt>. It is not legal
to call this method if there is no initializer.</p></li>
</ul>
<p><tt>#include "<a
href="/doxygen/BasicBlock_8h-source.html">llvm/BasicBlock.h</a>"</tt><br>
-doxygen info: <a href="/doxygen/structllvm_1_1BasicBlock.html">BasicBlock
+doxygen info: <a href="/doxygen/classllvm_1_1BasicBlock.html">BasicBlock
Class</a><br>
Superclass: <a href="#Value"><tt>Value</tt></a></p>
<hr>
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