modocache / llvmplayground

Small sample programs that use LLVM and Clang APIs.

LLVMPlayground

This is a CMake project I use to experiment with LLVM and Clang libraries, by writing small example programs that use them.

To use it yourself, build and install into your path LLVM, Clang, and clang-format, then run:

git clone https://github.com/modocache/LLVMPlayground.git
make -C LLVMPlayground

The example programs are in LLVMPlayground/build/playground. For example, to run a program that uses llvm::MemoryBuffer, run:

./LLVMPlayground/build/playground/memorybuffer

To add your own example program, add a call to add_playground_executable to the CMakeLists.txt file.

How this project is built

The source files in this LLVMPlayground repository are configured and built using CMake. As explained in this article, LLVM, Clang, and Swift also use CMake.

Projects that use CMake require two invocations of the cmake executable: one to configure the project, and one to build it based on that configuration.

The Makefile in this project handles this "configure and then build" dance for the LLVMPlayground project. Running make does the following:

1. Runs cmake in order to configure the LLVMPlayground project. When configuring, CMake automatically discovers LLVM and Clang if they exist in your PATH. This allows the LLVMPlayground executables to be linked against LLVM and Clang libraries.
2. Runs cmake --build in order to build the executables in LLVMPlayground.