XL
C/C++ Compiler Advanced Edition
for IBM Linux on Power™
The IBM XL C/C++ Advanced Edition V7.0 for IBM Linux on Power™
is a standards-based, high performance native C/C++ compiler with extensive industry-leading
optimization features based on the mature compiler technology of IBM XL C/C++ for AIX. The
version designed for IBM Linux on Power™
generates highly optimized code which exploits the IBM PowerPC architecture within the Power series
processors to create high performance applications. XL C/C++ is part
of a family of IBM compilers that support C and C++ programming on IBM's pSeries®, iSeries®,
and zSeries® platforms in addition to other third party platforms.
Its advanced optimization technology and VMX support help you create high-performance 32- and 64-bit
applications that run efficiently on a wide variety of IBM processor architectures, including IBM's
newest POWER5 and PowerPC 970 processors. IBM XL C/C++ includes a complete implementation of OpenMP
C/C++ API, Version 2.0. OpenMP APIs and related compiler options let you exploit PowerPC symmetric
multiprocessing (SMP) architectures. All XL C/C++ Advanced Edition purchases from Absoft include
the full XL C/C++ Advanced Edition version 7.0 for IBM Linux on Power™ plus the Absoft
Fx2™
Debugging Solution and technical support at no additional
charge.
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- Floating Network Licenses available exclusively from Absoft
- Industry-leading
optimization technology
- Multiple levels of increasing
optimization to trade-off compile time with code execution
speed
- Various compiler options and
pragmas to tailor for the specific needs of a compilation
- GNU C/C++ portability
support to ease migration of code from GNU C and C++
- Support for Third-Party Run-time Libraries
- Supported by Absoft's popular
Fx2™
Debugging Solution, included
- Quick and easy installation
· start using right away
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Based on mature compiler technology from IBM, XL C/C++ Advanced
Edition V7.0 for IBM Linux on Power™ features:
- Generation of highly optimized code
which exploits the IBM Power™ architecture within the latest POWER5 and PowerPC 970 processors
- Support for the Velocity Engine through
the AltiVec programming interface
- XL C/C++ V7.0 now fully supports the OpenMP C/C++ API, Version 2.0
- Improved documentation and man pages that support the
IBM Linux on Power™ architecture.
- Support for Third-Party Run-time Libraries
- Compliance with past and present C
and C++ language industry standards – XL C/C++ V7.0 conforms to
the revised 2003 international C++ standard ISO/IEC 14882:2003(E).
- Binary compatibility and coexistence
with gcc 3.3, including:
- Ability to use of GNU C/C++ header
files, the GNU linker, and the GNU assembler during compilation
- Ability of compiled programs to
use GNU C and C++ run-time libraries.
- Compatibility between g++ objects
and object files compiled with XL C/C++.
- Ability to use gdb to debug programs,
and gprof to profile programs.
XL C/C++
Advanced Edition for IBM Linux on Power™ is a powerful development environment
for building highly optimized C and C++ applications. The XL C/C++ compiler
is the successor to IBM VisualAge C++ V7.0 for Linux. Its advanced optimization
technology and VMX support help you create high-performance 32- and 64-bit applications
that run efficiently on a wide variety of IBM processor architectures, including IBM's
newest POWER5 and PowerPC 970 processors.
The C and the C++ compilers conform to the latest ISO/IEC
International Standards. The C compiler supports the latest ISO C 1999 (International
Standard ISO/IEC 9899:1999) standard, also known as C99. The C99 standard offers a number
of additional language functions to promote portability of C programs.
XL C/C++ Advanced Edition V7.0 for Linux offers a number of
new optimization and performance-tuning features that exploit all PowerPC systems,
including the latest POWER5 and PowerPC 970 hardware architectures. The -qarch and -qtune
compiler options now support optimizations specifically for the POWER5 and the PowerPC 970
processor architectures.
New built-in functions are introduced in XL C/C++ Advanced Edition
V7.0 for Linux. For example, four new built-in functions are introduced for floating-point
division. These software implementations of the floating-point division algorithms take advantage
of the PowerPC architecture and can be significantly faster than corresponding hardware instructions
when used in a vector context. The new built-ins are supported on all PowerPC systems, but on POWER5
systems the functions use the POWER5 instructions to take advantage of the POWER5 hardware.
New pragma directives are also introduced with V7.0, especially for
loop unrolling optimizations. Also new are additional optimization utilities related to the
profile-directed feedback (PDF) compilation process.
The -qlanglvl compiler option allows
you to choose from the available language levels that you can use
to compile your code within XL C/C++ Advanced Edition for Mac OS
X. Your code can conform to the latest C99 Standard, use language
extensions to C99, or conform to the previous C89 Standard. XL C/C++
Advanced Edition offers you the flexibility to compile your code
to the language level that you require.
The OpenMP Application Programming Interface (API)
is a portable, scalable programming model that provides a standard interface for
developing multiplatform, shared-memory parallel applications in C, C++, and Fortran.
The specification is defined by the OpenMP organization, a group of major computer hardware
and software vendors, which includes IBM. XL C/C++ Advanced Edition V7.0 for Linux is
compliant with OpenMP V2.0.
Developers using XL C/C++ Advanced Edition V7.0 for Linux with the SLES 9 operating system on IBM BladeCenter JS20 servers can take advantage of VMX instructions with automatic SIMD vectorization to improve program performance in multimedia-rich applications.
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XL C/C++ Advanced Edition for IBM Linux on Power™ is a new platform availability for the IBM Family
of C/C++ Compilers. Now includes
the Fx2™ Debugging
Solution™
XL C/C++ Advanced Edition for IBM Linux on Power™ is included in the
High Performance Computing Software Developers' Kit (HPC SDK).
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XL C/C++ Advanced Edition version 7.0 for
IBM Linux on Power™ includes the benefits of IBM compiler optimization technology.
Through compiler options, directives, and pragmas, programmers are
offered a number of ways to optimize their code. Using the -O2,
-O3, -O4, and -O5 options, you can obtain optimization levels that
run from comprehensive low-level optimizations to more extensive
optimizations that include interprocedural analysis, loop optimization,
and automatic machine tuning. Other options for optimization include:
- -qarch, -qtune, and -qcache that
allow you to optimize your application to a number of architectures.
- -qhot that allows for high-order transformations,
which are optimizations that specifically improve performance
of loops through techniques such as interchange, fusion, and unrolling.
- -qipa that invokes interprocedural
analysis (IPA) that enables the compiler to optimize across different
files (whole-program analysis), and can result in significant
performance improvements.
- -qpdf (profile-directed feedback)
that uses results from sample program execution to fine tune optimizations
in conditional branches and frequently executed code sections.
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XL C/C++ Advanced Edition version 7.0 for IBM Linux on Power™
uses the GNU C and C++ header files and the run-time libraries
to produce code that is binary-compatible with that produced with
GNU compiler, gcc V3.3. Portions of an application can be built
with XL C/C++ Advanced Edition for IBM Linux on Power™ and combined with portions
built with gcc to produce an application that behaves as if it had
been built solely with gcc. To ensure that the proper versions of
headers and run-time libraries are present on the system, the gcc
V3.3 compilers must be installed before installing XL C/C++ Advanced
Edition for IBM Linux on Power™. XL C/C++ Advanced Edition is able to coexist
with gcc-compiled code. The XL C/C++ Advanced Edition compiler optimizes
the program while maintaining binary compatibility with objects
produced by gcc V3.3.
Additional coexistence features include:
- Built-in IBM functions for Power Mac
G5 (Power Mac G4 also supported) and PowerPC 970 architectures
coexist with GNU C and GNU C++ built-ins.
- Compilation uses the GNU C/C++ and
IBM Linux on Power™ header files.
- Compilation uses the GNU assembler
for assembler input files.
- Linking uses the IBM Linux on Power™ linker.
- Compiled code is linked to the GNU
C/C++ and IBM Linux on Power™ run-time libraries.
- Debugging uses the GNU debugger, gdb.
- Profiling uses the GNU profiler, gprof.
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- The -qarch=ppc970 or -qarch=g5 (also
-qtune=ppc970 or -qtune=g5) instructs the compiler to optimize
specifically to the PowerPC 970 chip contained in the Apple Power
Mac G5 (Power Mac G4 is also supported).
- The -qaltivec option which supports
the Power Mac G5 Velocity Engine through the AltiVec programming
interface. This interface provides for highly parallel operations
for both integer and float point data.
- XL C/C++ Advanced Edition version 7.0 for
IBM Linux on Power™ supports interlanguage calls to and from XL Fortran Advanced
Edition so that you may include C and C++ code segments within
your Fortran programs.
- The gxlc utility translates GNU C
and C++ compiler options into comparable XL C/C++ options and
creates an xlc invocation command to invoke the C or C++ compiler
within the XL C/C++ compiler. This utility is helpful for reusing
make files created for applications previously developed with
the GNU C/C++.
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XL C/C++ Advanced Edition version 7.0 for IBM Linux on Power™
has features that help you port existing code from code originally
written for GNU C and C++. For example, by compiling with the -qinfo=por
option, you can filter the diagnostic messages emitted by the compiler
to show only those that pertain to portability issues. Also, a comprehensive
subset of features related to GNU C and C++ are supported by XL
C/C++ Advanced Edition version 7.0 for IBM Linux on Power™. Other GNU C and C++ features
are recognized (accepted and ignored). This helps you minimize the
number of changes that you are required to make to your GCC source
code to ensure that it compiles successfully using XL C/C++ Advanced
Edition for IBM Linux on Power™.
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XL C/C++
Advanced Edition version 7.0 for IBM Linux on Power™ is compatible with the Absoft
Fx2™ Debugging
Solution™ and the GNU debugger, gdb. Fx2™
Debugging Solution™ is included with XL C/C++ at no charge
when purchased from Absoft.
The GNU debugger comes bundled
with the system. Some capability for debugging code with partial
-O2 optimization level is provided by gdb.
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XL C/C++ now ships with an Information Center of searchable HTML files. The
search engine of the new help system may produce hits with greater relevance per search than that of
previous releases. The Information Center can be installed on an intranet, or viewed online at
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/lnxpcomp/index.jsp.
Starting with Version 7.0, a man page is provided for compiler invocation
commands and for each command-line utility. The man page for the compiler invocations replaces the
text help file provided in earlier releases.
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The OpenMP Application Programming Interface (API) is a portable, scalable programming model that provides a standard interface for developing multiplatform, shared-memory parallel applications in C, C++, and Fortran. The specification is defined by the OpenMP organization, a group of major computer hardware and software vendors, which includes IBM. XL C/C++ Advanced Edition V7.0 for Linux is compliant with OpenMP V2.0.
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XL C/C++ Advanced Edition is shipped as a command line
compiler and was derived from IBM's family of compilers for AIX. Features a wide range
optimizing features that let you generate highly-optimized 32- or 64-bit application code
to run efficiently on a wide variety of processors and processor families, or you can opt
to tune generated code to run most efficiently on a specific processor or processor family.
Not only exploits the capabilities of the IBM PowerPC, POWER3, and POWER4 processor architectures, but also adds support for the new POWER5 processor architecture.
XL C/C++ Advanced Edition V7.0 for Linux also includes a complete implementation of the OpenMP C/C++ API, Version 2.0. You can use OpenMP APIs to take advantage of improved program performance potential on machines featuring multiple processors.
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December 19 2004
- Electronic Delivery full Media Documentation
December 31 2004
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Agreement: IBM End User License Agreement.
The IBM End User License Agreement (EULA) should be reviewed prior to purchase of XL C/C++ Advanced Edition.
Limited warranty
applies: Yes
Warranty:
This program has warranty for a minimum of one year from acquisition
from Absoft. The warranty provided to the customer, for at least
one year from acquisition, is access to data bases (read Web sites)
for program information, FAQs, including any known fixes to defects,
which the customer can download or obtain otherwise and install
at their leisure.
Software maintenance
applies: Yes
IBM includes one year of Software Maintenance
with the initial license acquisition of each program acquired. The
initial period of Software Maintenance can be extended by the purchase
of a renewal option that is available.
MaxFlex·
Flexible Licensing available: Yes
Floating Network
Licenses available: Yes
Copy and use on
home/portable computer: No
Volume orders: No
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Recommended Minimum
- IBM Power™
Series processor: Power4 or Power5
- 256MB RAM
- 130MB HD space
IBM XL C/C++ is specially designed and optimized for clusters using IBM’s Power 4 and
Power 5 architecture running Linux. The specific operating system versions supported are:
- SUSE™ Linux Enterprise Server 9 (SLES 9)
- Red Hat™ Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 3.0 AS, ES and WS
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XL C/C++
Compiler Advanced Edition version 7.0 works with:
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The default debugger supported by XL
C/C++ is the free gdb command line debugger, which was designed
for debugging C and is included with IBM Linux on Power™ tools and utilities for
developers. Many developers prefer a more intuitive, feature-rich
graphical debugger and choose Absoft's Fx2™
Debugging Solution™ (a $300 value) which is included
free of charge with all copies of XL C/C++ purchased from Absoft.
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None at this time
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Support/Maintenance:
New copies of XL C/C++ purchased from Absoft include free support and maintenance for up to 12 months. Support is handled directly by Absoft support engineers during standard support hours.
At the end of the initial support period, customers under current support may purchase Maintenance Renewal. Customers falling out of continued support may purchase Maintenance Reinstatement but at a higher price.
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