<li><a href="#abstract">Abstract</a></li>
<li><a href="#introduction">Introduction</a></li>
<li><a href="#identifiers">Identifiers</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#highlevel">High Level Structure</a>
+ <ol>
+ <li><a href="#modulestructure">Module Structure</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#globalvars">Global Variables</a></li>
+ <li><a href="#functionstructure">Function Structure</a></li>
+ </ol>
+ </li>
<li><a href="#typesystem">Type System</a>
<ol>
<li><a href="#t_primitive">Primitive Types</a>
</li>
</ol>
</li>
- <li><a href="#highlevel">High Level Structure</a>
- <ol>
- <li><a href="#modulestructure">Module Structure</a></li>
- <li><a href="#globalvars">Global Variables</a></li>
- <li><a href="#functionstructure">Function Structure</a></li>
- </ol>
+ <li><a href="#constants">Constants</a>
</li>
<li><a href="#instref">Instruction Reference</a>
<ol>
represented in their IEEE hexadecimal format so that assembly and
disassembly do not cause any bits to change in the constants.</p>
</div>
+
+<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
+<div class="doc_section"> <a name="highlevel">High Level Structure</a> </div>
+<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
+
+<!-- ======================================================================= -->
+<div class="doc_subsection"> <a name="modulestructure">Module Structure</a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+
+<p>LLVM programs are composed of "Module"s, each of which is a
+translation unit of the input programs. Each module consists of
+functions, global variables, and symbol table entries. Modules may be
+combined together with the LLVM linker, which merges function (and
+global variable) definitions, resolves forward declarations, and merges
+symbol table entries. Here is an example of the "hello world" module:</p>
+
+<pre><i>; Declare the string constant as a global constant...</i>
+<a href="#identifiers">%.LC0</a> = <a href="#linkage_internal">internal</a> <a
+ href="#globalvars">constant</a> <a href="#t_array">[13 x sbyte]</a> c"hello world\0A\00" <i>; [13 x sbyte]*</i>
+
+<i>; External declaration of the puts function</i>
+<a href="#functionstructure">declare</a> int %puts(sbyte*) <i>; int(sbyte*)* </i>
+
+<i>; Definition of main function</i>
+int %main() { <i>; int()* </i>
+ <i>; Convert [13x sbyte]* to sbyte *...</i>
+ %cast210 = <a
+ href="#i_getelementptr">getelementptr</a> [13 x sbyte]* %.LC0, long 0, long 0 <i>; sbyte*</i>
+
+ <i>; Call puts function to write out the string to stdout...</i>
+ <a
+ href="#i_call">call</a> int %puts(sbyte* %cast210) <i>; int</i>
+ <a
+ href="#i_ret">ret</a> int 0<br>}<br></pre>
+
+<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 a <a href="#functionstructure">function definition</a>
+for "<tt>main</tt>".</p>
+
+<a name="linkage"> 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 represented by a pointer to a memory location (in
+this case, a pointer to an array of char, and a pointer to a function),
+and have one of the following linkage types:</a>
+
+<p> </p>
+
+<dl>
+ <dt><tt><b><a name="linkage_internal">internal</a></b></tt> </dt>
+ <dd>Global values with internal linkage are only directly accessible
+by objects in the current module. In particular, linking code into a
+module with an internal global value may cause the internal to be
+renamed as necessary to avoid collisions. Because the symbol is
+internal to the module, all references can be updated. This
+corresponds to the notion of the '<tt>static</tt>' keyword in C, or the
+idea of "anonymous namespaces" in C++.
+ <p> </p>
+ </dd>
+ <dt><tt><b><a name="linkage_linkonce">linkonce</a></b></tt>: </dt>
+ <dd>"<tt>linkonce</tt>" linkage is similar to <tt>internal</tt>
+linkage, with the twist that linking together two modules defining the
+same <tt>linkonce</tt> globals will cause one of the globals to be
+discarded. This is typically used to implement inline functions.
+Unreferenced <tt>linkonce</tt> globals are allowed to be discarded.
+ <p> </p>
+ </dd>
+ <dt><tt><b><a name="linkage_weak">weak</a></b></tt>: </dt>
+ <dd>"<tt>weak</tt>" linkage is exactly the same as <tt>linkonce</tt>
+linkage, except that unreferenced <tt>weak</tt> globals may not be
+discarded. This is used to implement constructs in C such as "<tt>int
+X;</tt>" at global scope.
+ <p> </p>
+ </dd>
+ <dt><tt><b><a name="linkage_appending">appending</a></b></tt>: </dt>
+ <dd>"<tt>appending</tt>" linkage may only be applied to global
+variables of pointer to array type. When two global variables with
+appending linkage are linked together, the two global arrays are
+appended together. This is the LLVM, typesafe, equivalent of having
+the system linker append together "sections" with identical names when
+.o files are linked.
+ <p> </p>
+ </dd>
+ <dt><tt><b><a name="linkage_external">externally visible</a></b></tt>:</dt>
+ <dd>If none of the above identifiers are used, the global is
+externally visible, meaning that it participates in linkage and can be
+used to resolve external symbol references.
+ <p> </p>
+ </dd>
+</dl>
+
+<p> </p>
+
+<p><a name="linkage_external">For example, since the "<tt>.LC0</tt>"
+variable is defined to be internal, if another module defined a "<tt>.LC0</tt>"
+variable and was linked with this one, one of the two would be renamed,
+preventing a collision. Since "<tt>main</tt>" and "<tt>puts</tt>" are
+external (i.e., lacking any linkage declarations), they are accessible
+outside of the current module. It is illegal for a function <i>declaration</i>
+to have any linkage type other than "externally visible".</a></p>
+</div>
+
+<!-- ======================================================================= -->
+<div class="doc_subsection">
+ <a name="globalvars">Global Variables</a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+
+<p>Global variables define regions of memory allocated at compilation
+time instead of run-time. Global variables may optionally be
+initialized. A variable may be defined as a global "constant", which
+indicates that the contents of the variable will never be modified
+(enabling better optimization, allowing the global data to be placed in the
+read-only section of an executable, etc).</p>
+
+<p>As SSA values, global variables define pointer values that are in
+scope (i.e. they dominate) all basic blocks in the program. Global
+variables always define a pointer to their "content" type because they
+describe a region of memory, and all memory objects in LLVM are
+accessed through pointers.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+
+<!-- ======================================================================= -->
+<div class="doc_subsection">
+ <a name="functionstructure">Functions</a>
+</div>
+
+<div class="doc_text">
+
+<p>LLVM function definitions are composed of a (possibly empty) argument list,
+an opening curly brace, a list of basic blocks, and a closing curly brace. LLVM
+function declarations are defined with the "<tt>declare</tt>" keyword, a
+function name, and a function signature.</p>
+
+<p>A function definition contains a list of basic blocks, forming the CFG for
+the function. Each basic block may optionally start with a label (giving the
+basic block a symbol table entry), contains a list of instructions, and ends
+with a <a href="#terminators">terminator</a> instruction (such as a branch or
+function return).</p>
+
+<p>The first basic block in program is special in two ways: it is immediately
+executed on entrance to the function, and it is not allowed to have predecessor
+basic blocks (i.e. there can not be any branches to the entry block of a
+function). Because the block can have no predecessors, it also cannot have any
+<a href="#i_phi">PHI nodes</a>.</p>
+
+<p>LLVM functions are identified by their name and type signature. Hence, two
+functions with the same name but different parameter lists or return values are
+considered different functions, and LLVM will resolves references to each
+appropriately.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+
+
<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
<div class="doc_section"> <a name="typesystem">Type System</a> </div>
<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
+
<div class="doc_text">
+
<p>The LLVM type system is one of the most important features of the
intermediate representation. Being typed enables a number of
optimizations to be performed on the IR directly, without having to do
system makes it easier to read the generated code and enables novel
analyses and transformations that are not feasible to perform on normal
three address code representations.</p>
-<!-- The written form for the type system was heavily influenced by the
-syntactic problems with types in the C language<sup><a
-href="#rw_stroustrup">1</a></sup>.<p> --> </div>
+
+</div>
+
<!-- ======================================================================= -->
<div class="doc_subsection"> <a name="t_primitive">Primitive Types</a> </div>
<div class="doc_text">
</table>
</div>
-<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
-<div class="doc_section"> <a name="highlevel">High Level Structure</a> </div>
-<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
-<!-- ======================================================================= -->
-<div class="doc_subsection"> <a name="modulestructure">Module Structure</a>
-</div>
-<div class="doc_text">
-<p>LLVM programs are composed of "Module"s, each of which is a
-translation unit of the input programs. Each module consists of
-functions, global variables, and symbol table entries. Modules may be
-combined together with the LLVM linker, which merges function (and
-global variable) definitions, resolves forward declarations, and merges
-symbol table entries. Here is an example of the "hello world" module:</p>
-<pre><i>; Declare the string constant as a global constant...</i>
-<a href="#identifiers">%.LC0</a> = <a href="#linkage_internal">internal</a> <a
- href="#globalvars">constant</a> <a href="#t_array">[13 x sbyte]</a> c"hello world\0A\00" <i>; [13 x sbyte]*</i>
-
-<i>; External declaration of the puts function</i>
-<a href="#functionstructure">declare</a> int %puts(sbyte*) <i>; int(sbyte*)* </i>
-
-<i>; Definition of main function</i>
-int %main() { <i>; int()* </i>
- <i>; Convert [13x sbyte]* to sbyte *...</i>
- %cast210 = <a
- href="#i_getelementptr">getelementptr</a> [13 x sbyte]* %.LC0, long 0, long 0 <i>; sbyte*</i>
-
- <i>; Call puts function to write out the string to stdout...</i>
- <a
- href="#i_call">call</a> int %puts(sbyte* %cast210) <i>; int</i>
- <a
- href="#i_ret">ret</a> int 0<br>}<br></pre>
-<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 a <a href="#functionstructure">function definition</a>
-for "<tt>main</tt>".</p>
-<a name="linkage"> 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 represented by a pointer to a memory location (in
-this case, a pointer to an array of char, and a pointer to a function),
-and have one of the following linkage types:</a>
-<p> </p>
-<dl>
- <dt><tt><b><a name="linkage_internal">internal</a></b></tt> </dt>
- <dd>Global values with internal linkage are only directly accessible
-by objects in the current module. In particular, linking code into a
-module with an internal global value may cause the internal to be
-renamed as necessary to avoid collisions. Because the symbol is
-internal to the module, all references can be updated. This
-corresponds to the notion of the '<tt>static</tt>' keyword in C, or the
-idea of "anonymous namespaces" in C++.
- <p> </p>
- </dd>
- <dt><tt><b><a name="linkage_linkonce">linkonce</a></b></tt>: </dt>
- <dd>"<tt>linkonce</tt>" linkage is similar to <tt>internal</tt>
-linkage, with the twist that linking together two modules defining the
-same <tt>linkonce</tt> globals will cause one of the globals to be
-discarded. This is typically used to implement inline functions.
-Unreferenced <tt>linkonce</tt> globals are allowed to be discarded.
- <p> </p>
- </dd>
- <dt><tt><b><a name="linkage_weak">weak</a></b></tt>: </dt>
- <dd>"<tt>weak</tt>" linkage is exactly the same as <tt>linkonce</tt>
-linkage, except that unreferenced <tt>weak</tt> globals may not be
-discarded. This is used to implement constructs in C such as "<tt>int
-X;</tt>" at global scope.
- <p> </p>
- </dd>
- <dt><tt><b><a name="linkage_appending">appending</a></b></tt>: </dt>
- <dd>"<tt>appending</tt>" linkage may only be applied to global
-variables of pointer to array type. When two global variables with
-appending linkage are linked together, the two global arrays are
-appended together. This is the LLVM, typesafe, equivalent of having
-the system linker append together "sections" with identical names when
-.o files are linked.
- <p> </p>
- </dd>
- <dt><tt><b><a name="linkage_external">externally visible</a></b></tt>:</dt>
- <dd>If none of the above identifiers are used, the global is
-externally visible, meaning that it participates in linkage and can be
-used to resolve external symbol references.
- <p> </p>
- </dd>
-</dl>
-<p> </p>
-<p><a name="linkage_external">For example, since the "<tt>.LC0</tt>"
-variable is defined to be internal, if another module defined a "<tt>.LC0</tt>"
-variable and was linked with this one, one of the two would be renamed,
-preventing a collision. Since "<tt>main</tt>" and "<tt>puts</tt>" are
-external (i.e., lacking any linkage declarations), they are accessible
-outside of the current module. It is illegal for a function <i>declaration</i>
-to have any linkage type other than "externally visible".</a></p>
-</div>
-
-<!-- ======================================================================= -->
-<div class="doc_subsection">
- <a name="globalvars">Global Variables</a>
-</div>
-
-<div class="doc_text">
-
-<p>Global variables define regions of memory allocated at compilation
-time instead of run-time. Global variables may optionally be
-initialized. A variable may be defined as a global "constant", which
-indicates that the contents of the variable will never be modified
-(opening options for optimization).</p>
-
-<p>As SSA values, global variables define pointer values that are in
-scope (i.e. they dominate) for all basic blocks in the program. Global
-variables always define a pointer to their "content" type because they
-describe a region of memory, and all memory objects in LLVM are
-accessed through pointers.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-
-<!-- ======================================================================= -->
-<div class="doc_subsection">
- <a name="functionstructure">Functions</a>
-</div>
-
-<div class="doc_text">
-
-<p>LLVM function definitions are composed of a (possibly empty) argument list,
-an opening curly brace, a list of basic blocks, and a closing curly brace. LLVM
-function declarations are defined with the "<tt>declare</tt>" keyword, a
-function name, and a function signature.</p>
-
-<p>A function definition contains a list of basic blocks, forming the CFG for
-the function. Each basic block may optionally start with a label (giving the
-basic block a symbol table entry), contains a list of instructions, and ends
-with a <a href="#terminators">terminator</a> instruction (such as a branch or
-function return).</p>
-
-<p>The first basic block in program is special in two ways: it is immediately
-executed on entrance to the function, and it is not allowed to have predecessor
-basic blocks (i.e. there can not be any branches to the entry block of a
-function). Because the block can have no predecessors, it also cannot have any
-<a href="#i_phi">PHI nodes</a>.</p>
-
-<p>LLVM functions are identified by their name and type signature. Hence, two
-functions with the same name but different parameter lists or return values are
-considered different functions, and LLVM will resolves references to each
-appropriately.</p>
-
-</div>
-
<!-- *********************************************************************** -->
<div class="doc_section"> <a name="instref">Instruction Reference</a> </div>
projects / oota-llvm.git / commitdiff