Who this book is for

The book is written for C++ engineers who don’t have prior knowledge of compilers but wish to gain this knowledge and apply it to their daily activities. It provides an overview of the Clang compiler frontend, an essential yet often underestimated part of LLVM. This section of the compiler, along with a collection of powerful tools, enables programmers to enhance code quality and the overall development process. For example, Clang-Tidy offers more than 500 different lint checks that detect anti-patterns in code (such as use after move) and help maintain code style and standards. Another notable tool is Clang-Format, which allows specifying various formatting rules suitable for your project. These tools can also be considered an integral part of the development process. For instance, the language server (Clangd) is a critical service providing navigation and refactoring support for your IDE.

Understanding compiler internals might be crucial for anyone wanting to create and use such tools. The book provides the necessary foundation to begin this journey, covering basic LLVM architecture and offering a detailed description of Clang internals. It includes examples from LLVM source code and custom tools that extend the basic functionality provided by the compiler. Additionally, the book addresses compilation databases and various performance optimizations that can enhance the build speed of your projects. This knowledge should help C++ developers correctly apply the compiler to their work activities.