SDK paves way for OpenCL adoption

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. has introduced the AMD APP SDK 2.7, a software development kit that paves the way for OpenCL adoption. The SDK features the first conformant implementation of OpenCL 1.2 and support for C++.

The SDK grows the OpenCL application ecosystem by giving developers a cross-platform solution to unlock the performance of AMD GPUs, APUs and multicore CPUs with the added C++ wrapper API and AMD's C++ kernel language for greater efficiency, improved productivity and application robustness.

Support for the second generation AMD A-Series APUs and AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series GPUs is now available with the AMD APP SDK 2.7. The new SDK also includes updated versions of gDEBugger, APP ML, APP profiler and kernel analyzer updates.

The SDK's implementation of OpenCL 1.2 includes host access flags for memory objects; pattern-based GPU buffer and image initialization; new generalized image creation API; and enhanced image/buffer map operations.

For the C++ Wrapper API, the SDK includes defaults for platform, queue, device, etc. significantly reduce the amount of boilerplate code required; improved simplified constructors for cl::Buffer and addition of cl::copy functions; and additional support of events when using functors.

As for C++ Kernel language, the SDK offers Kernel and function overloading, inheritance and templates.