[mrami]

At the time, I had a DSL I had written in C++, and I wanted to produce proper compiled binaries. I had started looking at the now defunct TenDRA - I was thinking it would be nice to compile to a "machine-independent binary" which could be converted to machine code on the actual runtime system. But soon after I found LLVM, and it seemed like a no-brainer comparatively.

I seem to remember that "machine-independent binaries" was Apple's first use of LLVM: distributing LLVM IR and having it be converted to machine code on the user's computer, back when they were supporting Motorola and Intel chips. And I think consequently that's how LLVM got a lot of its momentum.