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LLVM 3.5 Brings C++1y Improvements, Unified 64-bit ARM Backend
An anonymous reader writes: LLVM 3.5 along with Clang 3.5 are now available for download. LLVM 3.5 offers many compiler advancements including a unified 64-bit ARM back-end from the merging of the Apple and community AArch64 back-ends, C++1y/C++1z language additions, self-hosting support of Clang on SPARC64, and various other compiler improvements.
It's one of those summaries.
You know "update on [OSS product]"
Why would we, the general populace of readers, want a very short summary of what this OSS product does, when we can have unclear references to the changelog?
Why would we want a link to the homepage with more information, when we can have 2 links that also are essentially changelogs, and one direct download?
If it's not the Linux Kernel, Firefox, or Chrome, please stop assuming everyone knows what it is.
I've been using LLVM and Clang a lot lately. They're an exceptionally good compiler system. The more I use it, the more I ask myself, Is there even any point continuing the development of GCC?
All software projects come to an end eventually. Something better comes along, and those who can't compete are better off giving up. I think that GCC has entered that phase, now that we have LLVM and Clang available to us.
LLVM and Clang have a better code base, a freer license, better runtime performance, better corporate support (probably because of the freer license), are proven to work well on major platforms like OS X and FreeBSD 10, and are starting to offer superb code optimization.
The only things GCC has in its favor are that it's entrenched, and that it supports some rarely-used languages and platforms that LLVM and Clang don't support. Neither of those is particularly impressive these days. People using Ada and Fortran use the better commercial compilers out there, not GCC. People using GCC on 1990s-era embedded systems are pretty much using a limited subset of C.
I don't even think that LLVM and Clang need the "competition" that GCC barely brings. The backers and developers of LLVM and Clang are motivated on their own to continually improve their product.
So I think GCC has started to outlive its usefulness. It may have been a trailblazer back in its heyday, but it's old hat now. There's really no need to continue developing it. LLVM and Clang are the future. GCC is a relic from the 1980s and 1990s.
rarely-used languages and platforms
Rarely-used platforms? Tell that to all the people developing for various embedded platforms like AVR which LLVM doesn't support. Those aren't rarely used.
GCC's support for Fortran and Ada make it valuable, the point is the need for an open source compiler so when your requirement is open source a commercial compiler wont do. Many assiduously avoid closed source software and want to be able to have the facility for ada and fortran. Many "infrequently used" platforms are more important than you think, such as the system Z platform from IBM.