I'm Building a Multi-Target Compiler Backend from Scratch — No LLVM, No Crutches
Gideon Towolawi is developing a multi-target compiler backend from scratch without using LLVM or other frameworks. He is currently in the parser stage and aims to create a compiler that emits machine code for various architectures. The project emphasizes fine-grained control over features like SIMD and security while documenting the entire process in real time.
- ▪Towolawi has three years of experience in C++ and is building a compiler backend toolkit.
- ▪The compiler will support multiple targets including x86-64, SPIR-V, ARM64, RISC-V, and WASM.
- ▪He is currently working on a hand-written recursive descent parser with a C++-like syntax.
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| Original publisher | DEV.to (Top) |
| Canonical URL | https://dev.to/ayndlr/im-building-a-multi-target-compiler-backend-from-scratch-no-llvm-no-crutches-57be |
| Publication time | Sun, 17 May 2026 20:49:04 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-17T21:03:21.008Z |
| Last seen | 2026-05-17T21:03:21.008Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
| Excerpt source | publisher body |
| Excerpt method | First ~120 words (~800 chars) of extracted publisher body, fair-use limited. |
| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
| Cluster | kTsu1qigg8Ci |
| Cluster logic | Grouped by semantic title/content similarity across sources within a rolling window. Same-publisher template collisions are excluded from coverage comparison. |
| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
| Substitutes article? | No — link-out required for full text |
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| Indexing | May the item be indexed (stored, ranked, made findable)? | Allowed |
| Snippet | May a short excerpt of the publisher's text be shown? | Allowed |
| AI summary | May WeSearch generate its own short summary of the article? | Limited |
| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
| Model training | May the content be used to train AI models? | Not asserted |
| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
Basis: Derived from the published RSS/Atom feed. Contact: [email protected]. Reviewed: 2026-07-24.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
try { if(localStorage) { let currentUser = localStorage.getItem('current_user'); if (currentUser) { currentUser = JSON.parse(currentUser); if (currentUser.id === 3936747) { document.getElementById('article-show-container').classList.add('current-user-is-article-author'); } } } } catch (e) { console.error(e); } Gideon Towolawi Posted on May 17 I'm Building a Multi-Target Compiler Backend from Scratch — No LLVM, No Crutches #compilers #systems #backend #simd I'm Gideon. 18. Three years of writing C++ from the ground up — ray tracers, video codecs, and now a compiler. No frameworks. No LLVM. Just me, the hardware manuals, and a lot of wrong turns. This post starts a series where I document the build in real time. I'm currently in the parser stage.
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