llvm dev - Apr 2012 - [LLVMdev] Potential Google Summer of Code Applicant

+cfe-dev, +chandlerc

On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 11:05 AM, Tobias Grosser <tobias at grosser.es>
wrote:
> On 04/02/2012 05:41 AM, Patrick Edwards wrote:
>>
>> Hi, my name is Patrick Edwards, and I'm currently a CS major at
Kent
>> State University. I have always been interested in doing work with
>> compilers and LLVM seems to be a perfect fit for me to learn more over
>> the summer, and also contribute to open-source projects at the same
>> time. However, while browsing through the project ideas, the only ideas
>> I found accessible were the code reduction and compile with/benchmark
>> the LLVM compiler. I would really love to help LLVM, as I have used C++
>> in quite a few of my classes and side programs, not to mention learning
>> other oddball languages as I wanted. If possible, could someone please
>> point me in the right direction to contribute to LLVM in the best way I
>> can?
>>
>> Thank you in advance,
>> Patrick Edwards, potential GSoC applicant
>
>
> Hi Patrick,
>
> besides the open project pages of the LLVM itself [1], there are also the
> ideas list of the subprojects:
>
> - The clang open projects list [2]
> - The SAFECode open projects list [3]
> - The Polly todo list [4]
>
> As you already realized, not all of them are suiteable for summer of code,
> but some of them definitely are.
>
> A topic I personally would think might be an interesting summer of code
> project is a clang based gnu 'indent' replacement. Here the idea
from the
> clang open projects page:
>
> "Use clang libraries to implement better versions of existing tools:
Clang
> is built as a set of libraries, which means that it is possible to
implement
> capabilities similar to other source language tools, improving them in
> various ways. Three examples are distcc, the delta testcase reduction tool,
> and the "indent" source reformatting tool. distcc can be improved
to scale
> better and be more efficient. Delta could be faster and more efficient at
> reducing C-family programs if built on the clang preprocessor, indent could
> do proper formatting for complex C++ features, and it would be
> straight-forward to extend a clang-based implementation to handle simple
> structural rules like those in the LLVM coding standards."
>
> I am not an expert in clang itself, but on the clang mailing list, you
there
> are plenty of people who are. I copied Manuel, as I think he was already
> planning to work on something like this.
While it is a topic where we'll want to see major stuff going on over
the coming year, I'm not sure that the underlying infrastructure will
meet the GSoC timeline - we're currently in the process of getting the
basics into mainline, and I think it would be a pain to now start
writing larger amounts of codes on something that we'll need to change
later.

Cheers,
/Manuel

On 04/02/2012 11:21 AM, Manuel Klimek wrote:
> +cfe-dev, +chandlerc
>
> On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 11:05 AM, Tobias Grosser<tobias at grosser.es>
wrote:
>> On 04/02/2012 05:41 AM, Patrick Edwards wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi, my name is Patrick Edwards, and I'm currently a CS major at
Kent
>>> State University. I have always been interested in doing work with
>>> compilers and LLVM seems to be a perfect fit for me to learn more
over
>>> the summer, and also contribute to open-source projects at the same
>>> time. However, while browsing through the project ideas, the only
ideas
>>> I found accessible were the code reduction and compile
with/benchmark
>>> the LLVM compiler. I would really love to help LLVM, as I have used
C++
>>> in quite a few of my classes and side programs, not to mention
learning
>>> other oddball languages as I wanted. If possible, could someone
please
>>> point me in the right direction to contribute to LLVM in the best
way I
>>> can?
>>>
>>> Thank you in advance,
>>> Patrick Edwards, potential GSoC applicant
>>
>>
>> Hi Patrick,
>>
>> besides the open project pages of the LLVM itself [1], there are also
the
>> ideas list of the subprojects:
>>
>> - The clang open projects list [2]
>> - The SAFECode open projects list [3]
>> - The Polly todo list [4]
>>
>> As you already realized, not all of them are suiteable for summer of
code,
>> but some of them definitely are.
>>
>> A topic I personally would think might be an interesting summer of code
>> project is a clang based gnu 'indent' replacement. Here the
idea from the
>> clang open projects page:
>>
>> "Use clang libraries to implement better versions of existing
tools: Clang
>> is built as a set of libraries, which means that it is possible to
implement
>> capabilities similar to other source language tools, improving them in
>> various ways. Three examples are distcc, the delta testcase reduction
tool,
>> and the "indent" source reformatting tool. distcc can be
improved to scale
>> better and be more efficient. Delta could be faster and more efficient
at
>> reducing C-family programs if built on the clang preprocessor, indent
could
>> do proper formatting for complex C++ features, and it would be
>> straight-forward to extend a clang-based implementation to handle
simple
>> structural rules like those in the LLVM coding standards."
>>
>> I am not an expert in clang itself, but on the clang mailing list, you
there
>> are plenty of people who are. I copied Manuel, as I think he was
already
>> planning to work on something like this.
>
> While it is a topic where we'll want to see major stuff going on over
> the coming year, I'm not sure that the underlying infrastructure will
> meet the GSoC timeline - we're currently in the process of getting the
> basics into mainline, and I think it would be a pain to now start
> writing larger amounts of codes on something that we'll need to change
> later.
Ah OK. I would have loved to have such a tool, but as a non-clang 
expert, I can obviously not judge if it is suited. Maybe you are aware 
of other projects suitable for GSoC,

Tobi

> Ah OK. I would have loved to have such a tool, but as a non-clang
> expert, I can obviously not judge if it is suited. Maybe you are aware
> of other projects suitable for GSoC,
But still many things in "Use clang libraries to implement better
versions of existing tools" are doable as it seems to me. E.g. delta
replacement based on clang.

-- 
With best regards, Anton Korobeynikov
Faculty of Mathematics and Mechanics, Saint Petersburg State University