OpenCL is a cross-platform, parallel computing programming standard for modern processors built by Apple in 2008 and developed by the Khronos working group. Although OpenCL is getting less popular (though it doesn't seem to be popular), and even being deprecated by his old father Apple , Khronos has not given up on it. On April 7, the Khronos working group announced improvements to the OpenCL SDK and drew a corresponding roadmap.
SDK improvements
The initial version of the OpenCL SDK was released on GitHub along with OpenCL 3.0. The OpenCL SDK contains many repositories that form an efficient OpenCL development environment, such as OpenCL-Headers, OpenCL-ICD-Loader, and OpenCL-CLHPP, which can be used to efficiently develop OpenCL applications and libraries.
This updated OpenCL SDK is provided in binary form to avoid the tedious process of compiling source code, but the official binaries are currently limited to Windows x86 and Windows x64. In addition, the new SDK includes the Getting Started with OpenCL Guide , which provides documentation on developing with OpenCL and many aspects of using the OpenCL SDK, such as getting started with Windows, getting started with Linux, CMake build system support, offline/online compilation, and more.
The updated OpenCL SDK also includes new native utility libraries, support for automatically fetching o dependencies, and a new set of native CL code examples (C, C++, Python, and Ruby examples). As well as improved integration around the CMake build system , see the relevant sections of the OpenCL guide for more information on CMake support.
SDK Roadmap
In the future, Khronos' OpenCL working group plans to contribute to Kitware's upstream FindOpenCL.cmake, ensuring that the new OpenCL:: namespace and its component support become increasingly reliable and comprehensive.
Package managers have been steadily gaining C/C++ traction due to varying degrees of support for installing OpenCL development files. Khronos will inform and assist package maintainers building from the OpenCL SDK to reduce maintenance costs and improve functional consistency across the OpenCL ecosystem.
The OpenCL working group has also started to assist distribution maintainers in packaging newer versions of OpenCL-related packages, and provide easy-to-install methods for those wishing to build with newer OpenCLs that integrate well with various operating systems, including using PPAs .
More details on OpenCL SDK updates can be found at Khronos.org .