THE SCOPE
Front ends, parsing, IR, code generation, virtual machines, linkers and JIT runtimes.
This starting dossier establishes a research remit and reference points for the section. It does not claim to be a comprehensive historical survey. Future articles will identify primary evidence, publication or artifact dates, competing accounts and the limits of verification.
Compilation is a pipeline, not one step
Lexing, parsing, semantic analysis, IR construction, optimization, code generation and linking are distinct responsibilities in many toolchains.
The intermediate form matters
IR enables analysis and optimization independently of the source language or final target, but each implementation makes different design choices.
Runtimes affect observable behavior
Garbage collection, scheduling, exception handling and libraries are part of how a language is actually experienced.
OPEN QUESTIONS / NOT ASSUMPTIONS
Questions that guide the reporting.
- 01Which toolchain release and flags are used?
- 02Does the documented output depend on target architecture?
- 03Can a demonstration be reproduced without undocumented tooling?
PRIMARY & TECHNICAL REFERENCES
Starting sources
The references below are paths into the evidence, not a claim that every historical question is settled. Each future article will provide its own direct citations and version-specific evidence.
- 01LLVM — Getting Started llvm.org
- 02LLVM — Kaleidoscope tutorial llvm.org
VERSION RECORD / 1.0
This dossier is revisable.
2026-10-08 — Initial edition. Research scope, evidence lenses, questions and reference starting points published. No external submissions have been reviewed for this initial edition. Future substantive changes should be documented with supporting evidence.
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