flang-new -> flang renaming article

[DavidSpickett]

Note: This article is to be published just after the release of LLVM 20, around Feburary 2025.

Which will be the first release that includes LLVM Flang as flang instead of flang-new.

The original proposal being https://discourse.llvm.org/t/proposal-rename-flang-new-to-flang/69462.

I proposed writing this article (https://discourse.llvm.org/t/rfc-llvm-project-blog-post-for-flang-new-flang-renaming/80915) to mark that renaming.

It covers:

• Why fortran still exists.
• Why you would build a new compiler.
• Flang's history.
• How the community decided to rename it.
• Flang's adoption of MLIR.
• Quotes from users/contributors/etc.
• How to contribute to Flang.

[DavidSpickett]

I am posting this very early relative to the likely February publishing date so we have plenty of time to gather feedback with all the holidays coming up.

It is ready for review, though the main focus at the moment is factual accuracy and general layout. I will concentrate on grammar and phrasing later, I have some reviewers in mind for that. I suggest you use the "rich" diff view so you can read the rendered Markdown document.

I am also collecting quotes for the article. Some of you I will be emailing directly, but anyone can be included and you can comment here instead. I cannot guarantee all input will be used but you of course have the right to ask that a quote be removed or corrected or put in the proper context if it is used.

(reading or reviewing the whole article is not required to give a quote, it's here for inspiration if you need it)

Quotes can be about anything related to the project:

• Could be something that Flang allowed you to build
• work that you enjoyed doing on Flang
• something you think Flang has set a new standard for
• how Flang contributes to your company/institution's strategy.

The goal is to show the breadth of the community and all the unique things people have got/continue to get from this project.

Please keep your quotes to a few sentences if possible.

If you have a particular way you wish to be cited, please let me know. My default is what I see on GitHub and the git log, plus the company name. If you want something different please tell me exactly what you prefer it to be, include:

• Any special characters or formatting.
• Translated forms of the name, e.g Japanese Kanji and a Romanised version, I'll include both.
• Your job title if you want that included
• Your company name, if you want it included

[banach-space]

Thanks, David. This reads really well, and it’s clear you’ve put in a lot of detective work to gather all this information - it’s greatly appreciated!

I’ve left a few minor comments and suggestions. After reading through, I see that you actually address most of these later in the text :)

I’ll aim to contribute something on the driver in the next few days.

[DavidSpickett]

I’ve left a few minor comments and suggestions. After reading through, I see that you actually address most of these later in the text :)

These sort of comments are good to. Sometimes it's good for the reader to have questions for later, but if it's something they're going to be distracted by as they read, I should address that.

[DavidSpickett]

FYI: big updates to the FIR and HLFIR sections coming, you can still point out my mistakes though :)

[luporl]

I added a few nits, but the MLIR part looks good to me.

[DavidSpickett]

I added a few nits, but the MLIR part looks good to me.

Thanks Leandro! I will be re-ordering the section soon, after I have more input from some Nvidia folks but I expect the factual content to be the same.

[luporl]

Great explanation of OpenMP basics, illustrated with how Clang translates it to LLVM IR and contrasted with Flang, that first lowers it to MLIR.

[erjin]

I do like how the #OpenMP to Everyone section introduces OpenMP from the basics and progressively delves into the differences between Clang and Flang in code generation.

[everythingfunctional]

I just gave it a full read through and I really like it. Thank you very much for putting this together. I look forward to seeing it published.