• LLVM-based compiler for toy Lisp in 8 hours with AI generation.

    From Kaz Kylheku@643-408-1753@kylheku.com to comp.compilers on Tue Mar 18 16:46:08 2025
    From Newsgroup: comp.compilers

    This GitHub user "jensb1" claims he created this in 8 hours with AI, not
    having written a single line of code himself:

    https://github.com/jensb1/lisp_llvm

    This is jensb1's HackerNews post about it:

    https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43390521

    Hi, always wanted to create a toy lisp compiler in LLVM for some reason, but never had the time to get it working.
    Took a new stab at it with Claude 3.7. Got a working version up in less than 8hrs in total with passing tests! Never wrote a single line of
    code. I would estimate the number of cursor iterations to about 500.

    Process was: 1. Ask Claude to create a boiler plate JIT in LLVM (see
    below shared chat) 2. Asked Claude on the architecture and what classes should be created (did this in cursor): - lexer - parser - AST - Code
    gen 3. Implemented each part separately, lexer, parser and AST took 1hr, codegen took ~7hrs.

    It can define variables, functions and do some basic stuff: try: (defn factorial [n] (if (= n 0) 1 (* n (factorial (- n 1))))) (factorial 5)

    Hope you like it!

    Here are some chats if you are interested in the first part of the
    coding (the rest was done in cursor):

    LLVM - https://claude.ai/share/3c5a1f92-389f-4274-8348-dcceaee8f140

    Lexer - https://claude.ai/share/fa32b8bd-0b8e-4faa-bc09-fc3dd9bb5ad3

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