Intel has announced major updates for its C++ and Fortran tools, updates that are aimed at making it easier for programmers to exploit thread-level and data-level parallelism in multicore processors. On the data parallelism side, the Intel C++ Compiler and Fortran Professional Editions both sport improved auto-vectorization features that can target Intel's new SSE4 extensions. For thread-level parallelism, the compilers support the use of Intel's Thread Building Blocks for automatic thread-level optimization that takes place simultaneously with auto-vectorization.
The version 10.0 compilers are actually the first from Intel that can do both auto-vectorization and thread-level optimization simultaneously in one pass. "Combining these capabilities in a cooperative and coordinated manner brings our customers added performance benefits and compiler reliability, which in turn gives greater PC responsiveness for gamers and everyday PC users," said Kevin J. Smith, director of the Intel Compiler Products.
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