New Intel toolkits tackle parallel programming

In a move aimed at helping developers squeeze the most performance out of hardware, Intel is unveiling today tool suites for building Windows and Linux applications to run on multiple processors and multicore processors.

The suites feature improved compiler and library performance, as well as support for third-generation Intel Core processors. Geared for building  applications such as scientific, analytical, and digital media systems, the suites include Intel Parallel Studio XE 2013 and Intel Cluster Studio XE 2013. Parallel Studio XE offers tools for building shared memory applications, and Cluster Studio XE features all of Parallel Studio while adding MPI (Message Passing Interface) capabilities.

The compilers, libraries, and analysis tools included in the suites improve application performance on processors, including the Intel Xeon Phi coprocessors. Also featured is support for the upcoming Intel “Haswell” microarchitecture and Intel’s “Ivy Bridge” microarchitecture. Profiling tools for additional insight into tuning are offered as well. The new suites follow the previously released Intel Parallel Studio suite for multicore application development.

Applications built with the new suites would run on systems ranging from servers and clusters to desktops and Ultrabooks. “If you’re in a Windows environment, these tools integrate with Visual Studio. If you’re in a Linux environment, most people will use these standalone, or they’ll use them along with the GNU tools like the GNU debugger,” said James Reinders, a director with the Intel software products group.

Although the suites primarily are for building applications via C, C++, and Fortran, they also feature low-overhead Java profiling for applications that do include some Java code. “We’re able to do analysis of the whole program, including the parts that are written in Java,” Reinders said. Expanded support is included for C++ 11 and Fortran 2008.

A pointer-checker capability detects buffer overflows that can result in crashes and security. CPU power analysis is featured as well, along with improved MPI fault tolerance and, to check memory usage, heap growth analysis.

Parallel Studio XE is available today, while Cluster Studio XE is expected in November.

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