Generating the mapping from a register class to a register bank is complex: - there can be lots of register classes - the mapping may be ambiguos - a register class can span several register banks (e.g. a register class containing all registers) - the type information is not enough to decide which register bank to map to (e.g. a register class containing floating point and vector registers, and all register can represent a f64 value) The approach taken here is to encode the register banks in an array indexed by the ID of the register class. To save space, the entries are packed into chunks of size 2^n.
LLVM TableGen
The purpose of TableGen is to generate complex output files based on information from source files that are significantly easier to code than the output files would be, and also easier to maintain and modify over time.
The information is coded in a declarative style involving classes and records, which are then processed by TableGen.
class Hello <string _msg> {
string msg = !strconcat("Hello ", _msg);
}
def HelloWorld: Hello<"world!"> {}
------------- Classes -----------------
class Hello<string Hello:_msg = ?> {
string msg = !strconcat("Hello ", Hello:_msg);
}
------------- Defs -----------------
def HelloWorld { // Hello
string msg = "Hello world!";
}
Try this example on Compiler Explorer.
The internalized records are passed on to various backends, which extract information from a subset of the records and generate one or more output files.
These output files are typically .inc files for C++, but may be any type of file that the backend developer needs.
Resources for learning the language:
- TableGen Overview
- Programmer's reference guide
- Tutorial
- Tools for Learning LLVM TableGen
- Lessons in TableGen (video), slides
- Improving Your TableGen Descriptions (video), slides
Writing TableGen backends:
- TableGen Backend Developer's Guide
- How to write a TableGen backend (video), slides, also available as a notebook.
TableGen in MLIR:
Useful tools: