Apparently the Clang frontend has successfully bootstrapped LLVM. Clang has been complete for C for some time, and Objective C (thanks largely to Apple) for almost as long, but since much of LLVM is written in C++, supporting that as well has clearly been an important goal.
Making a complete, functional C++ frontend is one of the ugliest tasks in computing; the C++ spec is a bloody fucking nightmare, which drastically extends C’s already considerable collection of dark corners. The fact that there is now another FOSS implementation, particularly one that is written in a much cleaner way than the one provided by GCC is excellent news for programmers and tool writers alike. Congrats to the Clang devs, and all the upstream LLVM folks involved.
I have been following LLVM development reasonably closely, as my master’s project will hopefully culminate with a functional port of the LLVM backed to LARs, and am continually impressed by how accessible, friendly, and well documented the code base and community are.
