3.8 Summary

We explored the Clang AST, a major instrument for creating various Clang tools. We learned about the architectural design principles chosen for the implementation of the Clang AST and investigated different methods for AST traversal. We delved into specialized traversal techniques, such as those for C/C++ declarations, and also looked into more universal techniques that employ recursive visitors and Clang AST matchers. Our exploration concluded with the clang-query tool and how it can be used for Clang AST exploration. Specifically, we used it to understand how Clang processes compilation errors.

The next chapter will discuss the basic libraries used in Clang and LLVM development. We will explore the LLVM code style and foundational Clang/LLVM classes, such as SourceManager and SourceLocation. We will also cover the TableGen library, which is used for code generation, and the LLVM Integration Test (LIT) framework.