Question

We want to do some fairly simple analysis of user’s C++ code and then use that information to instrument their code (basically regen their code with a bit of instrumentation code) so that the user can run a dynamic analysis of their code and get stats on things like ranges of values of certain numeric types.

clang should be able to handle enough C++ now to handle the kind of code our users would be throwing at it – and since clang’s C++ coverage is continuously improving by the time we’re done it’ll be even better.

So how does one go about using clang like this as a standalone parser? We’re thinking we could just generate an AST and then walk it looking for objects of the classes we’re interested in tracking. Would be interested in hearing from others who are using clang without LLVM.

Answer 1

clang is designed to be modular. Quoting from its page:

A major design concept for clang is
its use of a library-based
architecture. In this design, various
parts of the front-end can be cleanly
divided into separate libraries which
can then be mixed up for different
needs and uses.

Look at clang libraries like libast for your needs. Read more here.