3.7 Processing AST in the case of errors

One of the most interesting aspects of Clang pertains to error processing. Error processing encompasses error detection, the display of corresponding error messages, and potential error recovery. The latter is particularly intriguing in terms of the Clang AST. Error recovery occurs when Clang doesn’t halt upon encountering a compilation error but continues to compile in order to detect additional issues.

Such behavior is beneficial for various reasons. The most evident one is user convenience. When programmers compile a program, they typically prefer to be informed about as many errors as possible in a single compilation run. If the compiler were to stop at the first error, the programmer would have to correct that error, recompile, then address the subsequent error, and recompile again, and so forth. This iterative process can be tedious and frustrating, especially with larger code bases or intricate errors. While this behavior is particularly...