Drawbacks of TableGen
Here are a few drawbacks of TableGen:
- The TableGen language is built on a simple concept. As a consequence, it does not have the same computing capabilities as other DSLs. Obviously, some programmers would like to replace TableGen with a different, more powerful language, and this topic comes up from time to time in the LLVM discussion forum.
- With the possibility of implementing your own backends, the TableGen language is very flexible. However, it also means that the semantics of a given definition are hidden inside the backend. Thus, you can create TableGen files that are basically not understandable by other developers.
- And last, the backend implementation can be very complex if you try to solve a non-trivial task. It is reasonable to expect that this effort would be lower if the TableGen language were more powerful.
Even if not all developers are happy with the capabilities of TableGen, the tool is used widely in LLVM, and for a developer...
