(`doxygen <http://llvm.org/doxygen/classllvm_1_1function_ref.html>`__) class
template represents a reference to a callable object, templated over the type
of the callable. This is a good choice for passing a callback to a function,
-if you don't need to hold onto the callback after the function returns.
+if you don't need to hold onto the callback after the function returns. In this
+way, ``function_ref`` is to ``std::function`` as ``StringRef`` is to
+``std::string``.
``function_ref<Ret(Param1, Param2, ...)>`` can be implicitly constructed from
any callable object that can be called with arguments of type ``Param1``,
return false;
});
-Note that a ``function_ref`` object contains pointers to external memory, so
-it is not generally safe to store an instance of the class (unless you know
-that the external storage will not be freed).
-``function_ref`` is small enough that it should always be passed by value.
-
-``std::function``
-^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-
-You cannot use ``std::function`` within LLVM code, because it is not supported
-by all our target toolchains.
-
+Note that a ``function_ref`` object contains pointers to external memory, so it
+is not generally safe to store an instance of the class (unless you know that
+the external storage will not be freed). If you need this ability, consider
+using ``std::function``. ``function_ref`` is small enough that it should always
+be passed by value.
.. _DEBUG:
because there is no system in place to ensure that names do not conflict. If
two different modules use the same string, they will all be turned on when the
name is specified. This allows, for example, all debug information for
-instruction scheduling to be enabled with ``-debug-type=InstrSched``, even if
+instruction scheduling to be enabled with ``-debug-only=InstrSched``, even if
the source lives in multiple files.
+For performance reasons, -debug-only is not available in optimized build
+(``--enable-optimized``) of LLVM.
+
The ``DEBUG_WITH_TYPE`` macro is also available for situations where you would
like to set ``DEBUG_TYPE``, but only for one specific ``DEBUG`` statement. It
takes an additional first parameter, which is the type to use. For example, the
$ opt -stats -mypassname < program.bc > /dev/null
... statistics output ...
+Note that in order to use the '``-stats``' option, LLVM must be
+compiled with assertions enabled.
+
When running ``opt`` on a C file from the SPEC benchmark suite, it gives a
report that looks like this:
llvm/ADT/ilist_node.h
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
-``ilist_node<T>`` implements a the forward and backward links that are expected
+``ilist_node<T>`` implements the forward and backward links that are expected
by the ``ilist<T>`` (and analogous containers) in the default manner.
``ilist_node<T>``\ s are meant to be embedded in the node type ``T``, usually
LLVM adds a few new options to choose from. Pick the first option on this list
that will do what you need, they are ordered according to their relative cost.
-Note that is is generally preferred to *not* pass strings around as ``const
+Note that it is generally preferred to *not* pass strings around as ``const
char*``'s. These have a number of problems, including the fact that they
cannot represent embedded nul ("\0") characters, and do not have a length
available efficiently. The general replacement for '``const char*``' is
IntervalMap is a compact map for small keys and values. It maps key intervals
instead of single keys, and it will automatically coalesce adjacent intervals.
-When then map only contains a few intervals, they are stored in the map object
+When the map only contains a few intervals, they are stored in the map object
itself to avoid allocations.
The IntervalMap iterators are quite big, so they should not be passed around as
iteration over maps of pointers.
It is implemented by mapping from key to an index in a vector of key,value
-pairs. This provides fast lookup and iteration, but has two main drawbacks: The
-key is stored twice and it doesn't support removing elements.
+pairs. This provides fast lookup and iteration, but has two main drawbacks:
+the key is stored twice and removing elements takes linear time. If it is
+necessary to remove elements, it's best to remove them in bulk using
+``remove_if()``.
.. _dss_inteqclasses:
Function *F = ...;
- for (User *U : GV->users()) {
+ for (User *U : F->users()) {
if (Instruction *Inst = dyn_cast<Instruction>(U)) {
errs() << "F is used in instruction:\n";
errs() << *Inst << "\n";
using the resultant compiler to build a copy of LLVM with multithreading
support.
-.. _startmultithreaded:
-
-Entering and Exiting Multithreaded Mode
----------------------------------------
-
-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 ``llvm_start_multithreaded()`` before making
-any concurrent LLVM API calls. To subsequently tear down these structures, use
-the ``llvm_stop_multithreaded()`` call. You can also use the
-``llvm_is_multithreaded()`` call to check the status of multithreaded mode.
-
-Note that both of these calls must be made *in isolation*. That is to say that
-no other LLVM API calls may be executing at any time during the execution of
-``llvm_start_multithreaded()`` or ``llvm_stop_multithreaded``. It is the
-client's responsibility to enforce this isolation.
-
-The return value of ``llvm_start_multithreaded()`` 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 *will* be safe for hosting
-threaded applications in the JIT, though :ref:`care must be taken
-<jitthreading>` to ensure that side exits and the like do not accidentally
-result in concurrent LLVM API calls.
-
.. _shutdown:
Ending Execution with ``llvm_shutdown()``
-----------------------------------------
When you are done using the LLVM APIs, you should call ``llvm_shutdown()`` to
-deallocate memory used for internal structures. This will also invoke
-``llvm_stop_multithreaded()`` if LLVM is operating in multithreaded mode. As
-such, ``llvm_shutdown()`` requires the same isolation guarantees as
-``llvm_stop_multithreaded()``.
-
-Note that, if you use scope-based shutdown, you can use the
-``llvm_shutdown_obj`` class, which calls ``llvm_shutdown()`` in its destructor.
+deallocate memory used for internal structures.
.. _managedstatic:
------------------------------------------
``ManagedStatic`` is a utility class in LLVM used to implement static
-initialization of static resources, such as the global type tables. Before the
-invocation of ``llvm_shutdown()``, it implements a simple lazy initialization
-scheme. Once ``llvm_start_multithreaded()`` returns, however, it uses
+initialization of static resources, such as the global type tables. In a
+single-threaded environment, it implements a simple lazy initialization scheme.
+When LLVM is compiled with support for multi-threading, however, it uses
double-checked locking to implement thread-safe lazy initialization.
-Note that, because no other threads are allowed to issue LLVM API calls before
-``llvm_start_multithreaded()`` returns, it is possible to have
-``ManagedStatic``\ s of ``llvm::sys::Mutex``\ s.
-
.. _llvmcontext:
Achieving Isolation with ``LLVMContext``
the LSBit set. (Portability is relying on the fact that all known compilers
place the ``vptr`` in the first word of the instances.)
+.. _polymorphism:
+
+Designing Type Hiercharies and Polymorphic Interfaces
+-----------------------------------------------------
+
+There are two different design patterns that tend to result in the use of
+virtual dispatch for methods in a type hierarchy in C++ programs. The first is
+a genuine type hierarchy where different types in the hierarchy model
+a specific subset of the functionality and semantics, and these types nest
+strictly within each other. Good examples of this can be seen in the ``Value``
+or ``Type`` type hierarchies.
+
+A second is the desire to dispatch dynamically across a collection of
+polymorphic interface implementations. This latter use case can be modeled with
+virtual dispatch and inheritance by defining an abstract interface base class
+which all implementations derive from and override. However, this
+implementation strategy forces an **"is-a"** relationship to exist that is not
+actually meaningful. There is often not some nested hierarchy of useful
+generalizations which code might interact with and move up and down. Instead,
+there is a singular interface which is dispatched across a range of
+implementations.
+
+The preferred implementation strategy for the second use case is that of
+generic programming (sometimes called "compile-time duck typing" or "static
+polymorphism"). For example, a template over some type parameter ``T`` can be
+instantiated across any particular implementation that conforms to the
+interface or *concept*. A good example here is the highly generic properties of
+any type which models a node in a directed graph. LLVM models these primarily
+through templates and generic programming. Such templates include the
+``LoopInfoBase`` and ``DominatorTreeBase``. When this type of polymorphism
+truly needs **dynamic** dispatch you can generalize it using a technique
+called *concept-based polymorphism*. This pattern emulates the interfaces and
+behaviors of templates using a very limited form of virtual dispatch for type
+erasure inside its implementation. You can find examples of this technique in
+the ``PassManager.h`` system, and there is a more detailed introduction to it
+by Sean Parent in several of his talks and papers:
+
+#. `Inheritance Is The Base Class of Evil
+ <http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/GoingNative/2013/Inheritance-Is-The-Base-Class-of-Evil>`_
+ - The GoingNative 2013 talk describing this technique, and probably the best
+ place to start.
+#. `Value Semantics and Concepts-based Polymorphism
+ <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BpMYeUFXv8>`_ - The C++Now! 2012 talk
+ describing this technique in more detail.
+#. `Sean Parent's Papers and Presentations
+ <http://github.com/sean-parent/sean-parent.github.com/wiki/Papers-and-Presentations>`_
+ - A Github project full of links to slides, video, and sometimes code.
+
+When deciding between creating a type hierarchy (with either tagged or virtual
+dispatch) and using templates or concepts-based polymorphism, consider whether
+there is some refinement of an abstract base class which is a semantically
+meaningful type on an interface boundary. If anything more refined than the
+root abstract interface is meaningless to talk about as a partial extension of
+the semantic model, then your use case likely fits better with polymorphism and
+you should avoid using virtual dispatch. However, there may be some exigent
+circumstances that require one technique or the other to be used.
+
+If you do need to introduce a type hierarchy, we prefer to use explicitly
+closed type hierarchies with manual tagged dispatch and/or RTTI rather than the
+open inheritance model and virtual dispatch that is more common in C++ code.
+This is because LLVM rarely encourages library consumers to extend its core
+types, and leverages the closed and tag-dispatched nature of its hierarchies to
+generate significantly more efficient code. We have also found that a large
+amount of our usage of type hierarchies fits better with tag-based pattern
+matching rather than dynamic dispatch across a common interface. Within LLVM we
+have built custom helpers to facilitate this design. See this document's
+section on :ref:`isa and dyn_cast <isa>` and our :doc:`detailed document
+<HowToSetUpLLVMStyleRTTI>` which describes how you can implement this
+pattern for use with the LLVM helpers.
+
+.. _abi_breaking_checks:
+
+ABI Breaking Checks
+-------------------
+
+Checks and asserts that alter the LLVM C++ ABI are predicated on the
+preprocessor symbol `LLVM_ENABLE_ABI_BREAKING_CHECKS` -- LLVM
+libraries built with `LLVM_ENABLE_ABI_BREAKING_CHECKS` are not ABI
+compatible LLVM libraries built without it defined. By default,
+turning on assertions also turns on `LLVM_ENABLE_ABI_BREAKING_CHECKS`
+so a default +Asserts build is not ABI compatible with a
+default -Asserts build. Clients that want ABI compatibility
+between +Asserts and -Asserts builds should use the CMake or autoconf
+build systems to set `LLVM_ENABLE_ABI_BREAKING_CHECKS` independently
+of `LLVM_ENABLE_ASSERTIONS`.
+
.. _coreclasses:
The Core LLVM Class Hierarchy Reference
Subclass of SequentialType for vector types. A vector type is similar to an
ArrayType but is distinguished because it is 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.
+ small vectors of an integer or floating point type.
``StructType``
Subclass of DerivedTypes for struct types.
projects / oota-llvm.git / blobdiff