What Is Intel Composer XE?

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Here at Go Parallel, we talk a great deal about parallel programming techniques and, specifically, about Intel Parallel Studio XE. But Parallel Studio is a suite of tools. In this blog, Jeff Cogswell explores one of those tools called Intel Composer XE.

As you continue to learn more about parallel programming, including the difference between vectorization and multicore programming, it’s important to understand where the different tools fit into your programming project. Intel Parallel Studio has several different parts to it. Let’s look at the different parts of Parallel Studio to see how they work together, and when you should use them.

Parallel Studio in Visual Studio

Parallel Studio consists of a set of tools, but when using it with Windows, it’s integrated within Visual Studio. Although technically a separate product, you can easily access the different parts of Parallel Studio from within Visual Studio. In fact, it’s so well-integrated, that from a usability perspective, it feels like you’re just using one product, sort of a supercharged version of Visual Studio. Now let’s look at the different components of Parallel Studio, starting with the first and most important part of suite called Intel Composer XE.  Composer XE is itself a suite of products. It consists of the C++ compiler with Cilk Plus extensions, the Fortran compiler, Math Kernel Library, and Threading Building Blocks.

The Intel C++ Compiler