In this document we will take a look at how to map various classic high-level programming language constructs to LLVM IR. The purpose of the document is to make the learning curve less steep for aspiring LLVM users.

Over the last ten years, LLVM has substantially altered this landscape. LLVM is now used as a common infrastructure to implement a broad variety of statically and runtime compiled languages (e.g., the family of languages supported by GCC, Java, .NET, Python, Ruby, Scheme, Haskell, D, as well as countless lesser known languages). It has also replaced a broad variety of special purpose compilers, such as the runtime specialization engine in Apple's OpenGL stack and the image processing library in Adobe's After Effects product. Finally LLVM has also been used to create a broad variety of new products, perhaps the best known of which is the OpenCL GPU programming language and runtime.