[plt-scheme] llvm and all that

On Aug 10, 2006, at 1:54 PM, Eli Barzilay wrote:

> Well, the LLVM thing suffered from a few major problems.  First, there
> were a few problems that they did not get around to fix -- like broken
> tail calls.  Second, there was the size issue -- with LLVM being big
> enough that it's basically like linking GCC in.  Since they're
> focusing on a plain compiler-like interface, it's a question whether
> this will have a solution.  Also there were problems getting it built
> on Windows.
>
> In the meanwhile, Matthew started to use GNU Lightning, which made a
> good solution.  LLVM would be much better, mainly because it can do
> low-level optimizations on the generated code -- in contrast to the
> simple spit-assembly-code facility that Lightning gives you.  So if
> the LLVM project solves those problems, it will be worth it to try
> again.


1. LLVM is in good-enough shape for Apple to make a major investment  
(and leave it lgpl'ed apparently). So there is hope.

2. I still believe that a whole-program compiler for PLT Scheme  
targeting the LLVM in addition to the JIT compiler would be extremely  
beneficial to the overall project. The less C people have to write  
for performance reasons the better.

-- Matthias