[avr-gcc-list] Re: avr superoptimizer

[David Brown]

John Regehr wrote:
> > That's why I'm (desperately) hoping that the LTO project in GCC will 
> > eventually help in this area.
> > <http://gcc.gnu.org/wiki/LinkTimeOptimization>
>
> Alternatively, an LLVM backend for AVR would give this capability 
> (approximately) for free.

"approximately free" being just the time taken to write an AVR backend 
of LLVM, as well as to figure out how to handle non-standard issues such 
as interrupt handling and flash data access, and then to port avr-libc.

I fully agree that an LLVM backend for the AVR has the potential to be a 
wonderful thing, and maybe that if one were starting from scratch today, 
it would be easier to write an AVR backend for LLVM than for gcc, but I 
think unfortunately it would be quite far from "approximately free".

Perhaps we could petition Atmel to sponsor a couple of students to make 
a starting point over as a summer project?