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<title>Clang C Language Family Frontend for LLVM</title>
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<h1>Clang: a C language family frontend for LLVM</h1>
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<p>The Clang project provides a language front-end and tooling infrastructure
for languages in the C language family (C, C++, Objective C/C++, OpenCL,
CUDA, and RenderScript) for the <a href="https://www.llvm.org/">LLVM</a>
project. Both a GCC-compatible compiler driver (<tt>clang</tt>) and an
MSVC-compatible compiler driver (<tt>clang-cl.exe</tt>) are provided. You
can <a href="get_started.html">get and build</a> the source today.</p>
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<h2 id="goals">Features and Goals</h2>
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<p>Some of the goals for the project include the following:</p>
<p><b><a href="features.html#enduser">End-User Features</a></b>:</p>
<ul>
<li>Fast compiles and low memory use</li>
<li>Expressive diagnostics (<a href="diagnostics.html">examples</a>)</li>
<li>GCC compatibility</li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="features.html#applications">Utility and
Applications</a></b>:</p>
<ul>
<li>Modular library based architecture</li>
<li>Support diverse clients (refactoring, static analysis, code generation,
etc.)</li>
<li>Allow tight integration with IDEs</li>
<li>Use the LLVM 'Apache 2' License</li>
</ul>
<p><b><a href="features.html#design">Internal Design and
Implementation</a></b>:</p>
<ul>
<li>A real-world, production quality compiler</li>
<li>A simple and hackable code base</li>
<li>A single unified parser for C, Objective C, C++, and Objective C++</li>
<li>Conformance with C/C++/ObjC and their variants</li>
</ul>
<p>Of course this is only a rough outline of the goals and features of
Clang. To get a true sense of what it is all about, see the <a
href="features.html">Features</a> section, which breaks
each of these down and explains them in more detail.</p>
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<h2>Why?</h2>
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<p>Development of the new front-end was started out of a need
for a compiler that allows better diagnostics, better integration with
IDEs, a license that is compatible with commercial products, and a
nimble compiler that is easy to develop and maintain. All of these were
motivations for starting work on a new front-end that could
meet these needs.</p>
<p>For a more detailed comparison between Clang and other compilers, please
see the <a href="comparison.html">Clang comparison page</a>.</p>
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<h2>Current Status</h2>
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<p>Clang is considered to
be a production quality C, Objective-C, C++ and Objective-C++ compiler when
targeting X86-32, X86-64, and ARM (other targets may have caveats, but are
usually easy to fix). As example, Clang is used in production to build
performance-critical software like Chrome or Firefox.<br /> If you are looking
for source analysis or source-to-source transformation tools, Clang is probably
a great solution for you. Clang supports C++11, C++14 and C++17, please see
the <a href="cxx_status.html">C++ status</a> page for more information.</p>
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<h2>Get it and get involved!</h2>
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<p>Start by <a href="get_started.html">getting the code, building it, and
playing with it</a>. This will show you the sorts of things we can do
today and will let you have the "Clang experience" first hand: hopefully
it will "resonate" with you. :)</p>
<p>Once you've done that, please consider <a href="get_involved.html">getting
involved in the Clang community</a>. The Clang developers include numerous
volunteer contributors with a variety of backgrounds. If you're
interested in
following the development of Clang, signing up for a mailing list is a good
way to learn about how the project works.</p>
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