AMD brings Heterogeneous C++ AMP Language for Developers

AMD along with Microsoft released C++AMP version 1.2- a open source C++ compiler which implements version 1.2 of the open specification for C++ AMP, available on both linux and windows. The tool, which leverages Clang and LLVM, accelerates productivity and ease of use for developers wishing to harness the full power of modern heterogeneous platforms spanning servers, PCs and handheld devices.

“AMD has a consistent track record of enriching the developer experience, and we’re proud to make the first open source implementation of C++ AMP availableto enable greater performance and more power-efficient applications,” said Manju Hegde, corporate vice president, Heterogeneous Applications and Solutions, AMD.

“AMD continues to deliver excellent developer toolsfor heterogeneous programming.  Partnering with AMD to deliver C++ AMP to the Linux and Open Source communities was a natural step for Microsoft as we work to improve the performance and developer experience on modern computing platforms,” said S. Somasegar, corporate vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft.

C++ AMP version 1.2 enables C++ developers to accelerate applications across a broad set of hardware and software configurations by supporting three outputs:

• Khronos Group OpenCL[i], supporting AMD CPU/APU/GPU, Intel CPU/APU, NVIDIAGPU,Apple Mac OS X and other OpenCL compliant platforms;
• Khronos Group SPIR, supporting AMD CPU/APU/GPU, Intel CPU/APU and future SPIR compliant platforms; and
• HSA Foundation HSAIL, supporting AMD APU and future HSA compliant platforms.