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Discussion summary

Discussions about LLVM focus on its role as an open-source compiler infrastructure, its accessibility for LLMs, and concerns over slow compilation times. Some users consider ditching LLVM for faster alternatives in development workflows.

What the discussion says

  • LLVM is widely used for compiler development and tools.
  • Its slow compile times are problematic for rapid development.
  • There is interest in faster alternatives, but few are production-ready.
“LLVM is an open source system for compiler design.”
— visha1v
“LLVM is accessible to LLMs and can be quickly set up.”
— kelseyfrog

Comments

Hacker News

LLVM here refers to the LLVM Compiler Infrastructure, an open source software system created to simplify the design and implementation of compilers and a wide range of compiler-based tools.

by visha1v

This infrastructure is also slow and leads to poor compilation times for any language that uses llvm as a backend. In an era of automatic code generation, this will become more and more of a problem as llvm compilation times will become a huge bottleneck. I am very bearish on llvm as a technology and while I will acknowledge its influence, I expect that it is at or near its peak and market share will decline dramatically over the next five to ten years.

by norir

I’ve been shocked by how much LLVM leaves on the table while designing Logos language! Some very exciting benchmarks coming soon that we’ve been working on for over 6 months, but LLVM misses a LOT of potential optimizations when you have a strong type system!

by tristenharr

It's also fairly accessible to LLMs. I was surprised at how quickly a self-hosting compiler could be brought up using the LLVM ecosystem.

by kelseyfrog

While LLVM is undoubtedly a great project for compiler research, lets not forget those that predated it with similar ideas like the Amsterdam Compiler Toolkit, or IBM's PL.8 compiler for the RISC project.

by pjmlp

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  • Hacker News
  • LLVM here refers to the LLVM Compiler Infrastructure, an open source software system created to simplify the design and implementation of compilers and a wide range of compiler-based tools.
    by visha1v
  • This infrastructure is also slow and leads to poor compilation times for any language that uses llvm as a backend. In an era of automatic code generation, this will become more and more of a problem as llvm compilation times will become a huge bottleneck. I am very bearish on llvm as a technology and while I will acknowledge its influence, I expect that it is at or near its peak and market share will decline dramatically over the next five to ten years.
    by norir
  • I’ve been shocked by how much LLVM leaves on the table while designing Logos language! Some very exciting benchmarks coming soon that we’ve been working on for over 6 months, but LLVM misses a LOT of potential optimizations when you have a strong type system!
    by tristenharr
  • It's also fairly accessible to LLMs. I was surprised at how quickly a self-hosting compiler could be brought up using the LLVM ecosystem.
    by kelseyfrog
  • While LLVM is undoubtedly a great project for compiler research, lets not forget those that predated it with similar ideas like the Amsterdam Compiler Toolkit, or IBM's PL.8 compiler for the RISC project.
    by pjmlp