Show HN: XOC 1.6.0: A Powerful, Commercially-Proven Compiler Framework
Hello everyone, I am thrilled to announce the release of the XOC Compiler Framework 1.6.0, a retargetable compiler infrastructure licensed under the BSD license. This release marks a significant milestone in the evolution of XOC, which has been powering commercial compilers and achieving remarkable performance and stability in production environments.
About XOC Compiler Framework The XOC Compiler Framework is an industry-grade compiler infrastructure designed to support the compilation and analysis of both static languages (such as C, C++, Java) and dynamic languages (such as JavaScript). It is the result of independent research and development efforts and has been battle-tested in real-world applications, including Alibaba's YunOS/AliOS mobile operating system and Cambricon's proprietary compiler for AI chips. XOC is based on the open-source compiler framework initially released by Alibaba in 2015. Since then, it has been continuously developed and enhanced to provide a robust and flexible foundation for compiler development

Key Features and Advantages Multi-Level Intermediate Representations (IR): XOC provides a hierarchical IR system that enables efficient code transformation. It supports the composition of arbitrary simple IRs into complex IR trees to accurately represent the syntax of various languages. Retargetable Code Generation: XOC includes XGEN, a retargetable machine code generator capable of producing code for multiple architectures, including ARM and x86. XGEN provides features such as IR2OR translation, instruction scheduling, register allocation, instruction packaging, and assembly code generation. Comprehensive Optimization and Analysis Tools: XOC offers a rich set of optimization and analysis tools, including aggressive flow-sensitive alias analysis, field-sensitive alias analysis, Register and Memory SSA (Static Single Assignment) forms, interprocedural analysis, inlining, dead code elimination, copy propagation, GCSE, GVN, and sophisticated control flow and peephole optimizations. Stand-Alone Algorithm Library: XOC does not rely on any standard library, providing all basic algorithm libraries such as Vector, List, Map, Dense Bitset, Sparse Bitset, Graph, Mempool, Big-Integer, Linear Algebraic library, File Operations, and Linear Programming Solver. Modular Design: XOC is designed to be easily integrated into other projects as an independent module, making it highly adaptable for various use cases. C Frontend (XOCFE): XOCFE is a concise and clear C compiler frontend that outputs an Abstract Syntax Tree (AST). It supports pure C99 and is easy to understand and modify. Polyhedral Transformation (XPOLY): XOC includes XPOLY, a tool for polyhedral transformation, linear programming solving, and polyhedral-based dependence analysis, enabling advanced loop optimization.

Commercial Applications and Stability The XOC Compiler Framework has been deployed in numerous commercial applications, demonstrating its reliability and performance. It has been used to optimize Android applications on YunOS, achieving significant performance improvements. Additionally, XOC has been utilized in the development of dexpro, a Java program analysis tool for detecting potential bugs and performance issues, as well as in static analysis tools for enhancing the execution speed of JavaScript engines like V8.

Getting Started To start using XOC and its components, visit the following repositories:

XOC Compiler Infrastructure: https://github.com/stevenknown/xoc
XOCFE C Frontend: https://github.com/stevenknown/xocfe
XGEN Code Generator: https://github.com/stevenknown/xgen
XPOLY Polyhedral Transformation: https://github.com/stevenknown/xpoly

For detailed build instructions and documentation, please refer to the respective repository README files. Feel free to reach out to us at steven.known@gmail.com. We look forward to seeing how you leverage this powerful compiler framework in your projects!